Artificial Friend
by TGtornadoe
Summary: In the magical land of Equestria, technology is not a very prevalent thing. Why modernize when a unicorn can do just about anything with magic, why engineer vehicles when pegasi can fly, and earth pony's can run everywhere. Why try to find a better way?... For a unicorn named Binary Steel, the question is, why not? Rated T for some dark scenes. Story also available on Fimfiction
1. Chapter 1

We begin our story, several years before the return of Nightmare moon...

Enter the life of the unicorn filly, Binary Steel.

The peppy youngster trotted down a dirt rode after a successful day at school, where she had shown one of her most recent mechanical creations, a levitation wand. She had successfully used it to manipulate three test rocks, each of varying size and weight.

The filly beamed as she remembered the amazement of her fellow students, who (except for the other unicorns) were amazed at the thought of themselves being able to levitate objects without having magical horns.

The filly then heard the clacking of approaching hoofsteps coming from behind her. Binary looked back to see two unicorn colts following her, both of them walking at unusually brisk paces.

Binary knew the two from school, they were bullies who used their impressive magic skills to cause trouble for everypony else. One of the two, a yellow unicorn with a black mane and green eyes, by the name of Cullen, was the obvious leader of the duo. The other a pink unicorn, with a white mane and silver eyes whose name was Broncin, was the muscle of the two... or more appropriately, the mass of the two. He simply picked on others because of his own insecurity about the colour of his coat.

Binary increased her speed, hoping that if she got close enough to her home that the duo would leave her be.

Dark clouds slowly filled the sky as Binary approached her modest home built at the top of a large hill.

Binary looked up, as rain began to patter down to the ground, making the ground muddy and slippery. The muck made Binary's efforts to go faster fail, she slipped and fell to the ground, just about 100 feet from her house.

The two unicorns, then used their magic to levitate themselves above the mud, and flew in front of Binary, blocking her path.

Binary timidly asked the two "Did you guys have a question about the wand?"

"Yeah, why would you come up with something so stupid?" Broncin asked mockingly.

Binary replied as though the question was sincere "Well, pegasi and earth pony's can't levitate things, like unicorns can"

"Oh really," Cullen said sarcastically "I had no idea, seeing as how I am not a brilliant engineer, such as yourself"

Binary, once again did not recognize the sarcasm and replied "Thank you Cullen, I really appreciate that"

Cullen let out a huff of annoyance and said "Oh you're so stupid"

Broncin levitated the filly's wand out of her saddle bag and let it hover just out of Binary's reach.

"Give that back, it's mine!" she pleaded.

Cullen viciously yanked Binary's thick black glasses off of her face "Are these yours as well?" he asked.

"Yes," Binary yelled "give them back!"

"Why don't you use your magic, like us?" Cullen asked "Oh that's right, you have a defective horn"

Binary's shouted at the two "It is not defective! I just don't like using it!"

Binary suddenly became engulfed in a magical glow and lifted off the ground. Cullen smiled as he flipped the filly upside down and shook her around in the air.

Broncin dropped the wand on the ground and stomped it into the mud, breaking it beyond repair.

It was all too much, the bullies had picked on Binary before, but never to this extent. Binary's eyes began to water and her tears joined the rain falling to the ground.

The two bullies laughed at their work, both thoroughly enjoying their cruelty.

A deep booming voice then yelled from behind the two "What the buck are you two doing to my daughter!"

The bullies looked behind them to see a brown earth pony with a black mane and enraged blue eyes, charging at them.

"Put her down right now!" The stallion screamed.

"Lets get outta here" Broncin said to his accomplice.

"No, I'm not done yet" Cullen replied.

Cullen then dropped Binary into the mud and used his magic to levitate the enraged stallion.

The stallion yelled while he helplessly fluttered "Put me down you punks!"

"Or what?" Cullen asked mockingly, knowing full well their would be no threatening response.

"I'll..." The stallion let out an angry sigh. He stopped struggling, admitting he was helpless against the magic.

"That's what I thought" Cullen said triumphantly. The unicorn then dropped the stallion into the mud. "Broncin, our work here is done" he said to his lacky.

The two then walked away, leaving the two ponies in the mud and rain.

Binary's tears washed some of the mud off her face, but the rest of her white coat and short, dark grey mane and tail were completely covered.

The brown stallion stood, he walked to Binary and said, while trying to hold back his own feelings "Come on, I'll give you a ride back home"

Binary grabbed her glasses out of the mud, then climbed onto her fathers back.

"Hold on" The father said with care, before he began to walk towards their home.

Binary clung to her father tightly; he was the only thing that made her happy, other than her gadgets.

The two quickly arrived back home. The bottom floor was an all purpose living area, part kitchen, part living room, with a bit of office here and there.

Binary dropped off of her fathers back and asked "Why didn't you stop them?"

The stallion replied "You know earth pony's can't do anything against magic... I'm sorry"

"No, Dad," Binary said as she hugged her fathers leg "you were really brave"

The father hugged back and the two held their embrace for a few warm, loving moments.

The father then took note of Binary's current state "Maybe you should go take a bath"

Binary then looked at herself, covered in mud "Ha, I'm the same colour as you" The filly joked happily, quickly losing the sadness that had overtaken her just minutes before.

The filly then quickly climbed up the stairs.

The second floor of the building had a T shaped hallway design, with four doors. One door directly to the right was the bathroom, to the left was a closet. Go a little further and the hallway split, the left hall leading to Binary's room, and the right hall ending in the door to her fathers room.

Binary took an immediate right, into the bathroom.

Binary picked up a few bath toys, that were scattered across the floor and chucked them into the tub. She then turned on the faucet, allowing refreshing, warm water to pour out into the tub. Binary then grabbed a bottle of bubble soap and poured a small amount into the tub.

The filly waited a few moments as the tub filled with water, and bubbles. She then yelled "Cannon Ball"

"No cannon balls" Her father called from the first floor.

Binary giggled at her running bath time gag. She then climbed into the tub and began to scrub herself clean.

One of her toys, a small boat, drifted towards Binary as she cleaned off her hooves.

Binary looked at the boat and imagined Cullen and Broncin stranded on it.

Binary then picked the boat up with her hoof and imagined the two pleading to her "Binary help us, we're so stupid. Save us with your... stuff"

Binary let out an evil chuckle and replied "No!"

Binary then pushed the boat under the water, although it almost instantly resurfaced. Binary looked at it with a disappointed stare, as if it was somehow mocking her.

Binary's life seemed to be summed up in the childish act of play. No matter what she did she would always end up right where she started. Her gadgets amazed her classmates, but none of them wanted to be her friends. The bullying would come, like the boat had, and for a while it would be pushed away, only to return later, unscathed. Any accomplishments she had in her short life, were truly only recognized by her father, who himself didn't really understand her work.

Binary was surrounded by a colourful cast of characters, good and bad, but despite that, and living in the exciting world of Equestria, Binary's life was exceptionally lonely and dull, with her own childish demeanour only softening the blow.

Their was no one, Binary could talk to, who really understood her...

(and that's when he came in.)

"Huh?" Binary looked around as though someone had spoken to her. Their was nopony there, but Binary was sure she had heard somepony speak right next to her. "Hello" The filly said cautiously.

Binary waited for a response, but their was none... but Binary replied anyway "I'm Binary, what's your name" Binary waited for the nothingness to respond.

"Don't have a name huh," Binary said to herself "maybe I could give you one" Binary thought up a list of names and shot them off, one by one "Drew... No... Fred... Yeah, I didn't think so..." Binary tapped her chin as she thought on the perfect name "I know, how about, Chip"

Binary smiled as though the nothingness had approved.

Binary clapped her hooves together and excitedly began to describe herself to her imaginary companion. Perfectly enough, it seemed that, Chip was interested in everything Binary was interested in.

In the following hours, the filly's belief in the thought up companion quickly became more affirmed.

Later in the mess that was Bianry's room. The filly went through every scribbled design, and idea she had, and her new friend met each one with instant understanding, and a deep appreciation of its purpose.

To the rest of the world it may have seemed pathetic for a filly to be so caught up in an imaginary friend, but Binary had rarely ever been that happy.

The father asked before entering his daughters room "Binary, who are talking to?"

The stallion pushed the door open and saw, Binary holding one of her designs in her mouth, as if she was presenting it.

The filly dropped the sketch and said "Daddy, I want to meet my new friend, Chip" The filly pointed her hoof toward the empty space.

The father stared, where he was directed to and quickly realized the situation. "Oh, yes, Chip"

"He likes making things, just like me" Binary said with a large smile.

The father smiled back and played along "That's great, Binary, I'll let you two get back to your gizmos and gadgets"

The father then exited the room. He was not sure if he should be concerned, or just be happy that his daughter was not dwelling on the days events. As he approached the door to his room he looked back down the hall and heard Binary let out a laugh. The laugh filled him with a warm sensation only the happy sound of a loved one could produce.

He smiled as he looked towards his daughters room "Chip... stick around, as long she needs you" he said to the imaginary being, before entering his own room.

Several years later... ( but still not quite the shows current time line)

"Here lies, Forge Steel" The words were etched in a tomb stone.

Binary, now a teenager, stood in the cemetery her father was buried in. She stared at the stone as her eyes watered, but she would not cry, her father would have had a fit if he were to have made his daughter cry.

"Why did you have to go?" Binary asked the grave. She then looked to the sky "I still needed to you" she said, as a single tear slid down her face. Binary then turned away from the grave and slowly exited the cemetery.

The walk back home was the hardest walk she had ever experienced, as she knew their would be no one there to greet her, and assure her that everything was alright, like her father had after so many hard days.

Binary approached her home, and stopped to look at it. It had not changed physically, but it's lonely presence at the top of the hill, only reminded her of how alone she was. She slowly walked up to the door and pushed it open. She still didn't like using magic. The house felt grey, and lifeless.

Binary then spoke, as if she had been asked a question "I don't want to talk right now"

Binary was once again having a one sided conversation with her imaginary friend, whom she had not spoken to for months.

"Just, leave me alone" she said. She then looked around "I'm, already alone" Binary stared into the empty space and tried envision her friend... but the childish illusion would not suffice. She needed a real friend, somepony who could actually speak to her.

6 months later...

It was hard to tell if Binary's mental state was deteriorating or if it was edging on complete brilliance. Her solitude had allowed herself to fully delve into her technology... and she was on the cusp of something potentially awe inspiring, something Equestria had never the seen the likes of before... something that could be considered, wrong... but who would argue against that when somepony is trying to play god.

Binary set up a camera, she had designed herself, to record her experiments.

"Record entry number... I think it's, like 36, or something" Binary said to the camera.

Binary, then stepped away, revealing a small metal platform, the size of a drink coaster, with several wires attached to it, and one single red button on the top.. She then used one of her levitation wands, to hold up a small microchip.

"I have put all of my time and effort into this one piece of technology. On this device I have created an artificial intelligence, or, A.I." Binary stepped back in front of the camera "I don't know what I'm going to do if this doesn't work... I really don't want to think about it"

Binary stepped back to the metal platform and inserted the chip into it. Binary went to push the button but hesitated. She closed her eyes and pushed the button. The device sparked a bit... but that's all it did.

Binary stood in complete silence for a moment. She suddenly became extremely frustrated and she struck the table with her hooves and screamed "Why didn't you work! I wanted you to work! I (sob)... I needed to you to work!" Her expression then turned to a whimpering frown, her legs buckled and she flopped her down right next to the device, and said once more in much softer, defeated tone "I need you"

She then covered her eyes with her hooves and quietly sobbed.

Someone then broke the silence "Are you, okay?"

"I don't want to talk right now, Chip" she replied, still lost in her sorrow.

"Why are you crying?" The voice asked.

Binary then lifted her hooves away from her eyes and stared in awe, as a blue light enveloped her. Binary couldn't believe it, she had succeeded. There, standing in front of her, on the tray, only the size of a small ball stood, Chip, staring back at her.

Binary began to breathe heavily as her frown turned to a delirious smile "You're real" she said "You are real" she said again as if she had to convince herself "You're... Chip"

The holograms face was featureless and it lacked a mane or tail, but it seemed alive none the less.

"I do not understand, are you happy, or sad?" Chip asked, obviously confused.

Binary laughed, she had never been so happy. "These are tears of joy" she said as she wiped the tears from her face.

"Are tears somehow, better this way?" The A.I asked.

"Yes" she answered "Me and you are going to make the world a better place"

A series of code then flowed over Chip's holographic body "Goal acknowledged, shall we commence this immediately" he asked.

Binary paused and replied "Maybe tomorrow, because I've been awake for 67 hours straight... So in other words, I need sleep or I will die" Binary's head then clunked down onto the table and she was instantly in a deep sleep.

Chip took in his surroundings, seeing scattered papers, half finished designs blue prints, and the general lack of upkeep, Binary's home had seen. Chip then looked at, Binary, sleeping peacefully.

"You need me" he said softly.


	2. Chapter 2

Seven years later...

High above Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow Dash was sleeping on a cloud, as, Applejack harvested apples below.

Applejack wiped the sweat from her brow and called up to her friend "Hey, Rainbow Dash"

The sound roused the pegasus from her sleep and she tiredly responded "What?"

"Hope you're not working too hard up there" Applejack said sarcastically.

"And just what is that supposed to imply?" Rainbow asked.

Applejack began to say "Well you're..."

"I know what you mean" Rainbow said, before she bolted down to the ground "You see that sky, that perfectly cloudless sky...you know, except for the one I was napping on"

Applejack chuckled "I'm just ruffling your mane, Rainbow, you done a good little job"

"Little!... You do realize that we, pegasi are responsible for all the clouds, heck, we're in charge of the hole wild blue yonder. You, are responsible for an apple orchard, that from the sky looks pretty small"

"I suppose you could get all these apples down from the tree's faster than I could, right?"

"Heck Yeah, I could!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Well how bout we have ourselves a little competition" Applejack said. The orange pony pointed to two clusters of apple trees "That one to the left, will be my tree's, and the ones on the right will be yours. Winner is the first one to get all their apples into the buckets there"

"Okay... so, on three?" Rainbow asked as she quickly stretched.

"Three and then go" Applejack said.

"Who counts?" Rainbow asked as she crouched to the ground.

Applejack began to say "You can if you..."

Rainbow interrupted Applejack, and yelled "3,2,1, Go!" Rainbow, rocketed away before, Applejack could react, gaining herself a firm head start.

Rainbow Dash was a blur as she spun around the tree's, and quickly grabbed every singly apple, and dropped them into the buckets at a blazing speed.

Seconds passed and Rainbow was done, as, Applejack bucked the apples down from her last tree.

Rainbow flipped in the air and excitedly declared "I win! Better luck next time, AJ"

Applejack calmly trotted past, Rainbow, with a grin on her face.

"Why are you so happy, you didn't win?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, didn't I; I just got you to do half my work for me" Applejack said, before letting out a chuckle.

Rainbow suddenly realized that she had been duped, and said with mock anger "And you're supposed to be the element of honesty"

Applejack then explained "I didn't lie, I tricked ya in a harmless fashion. I would expect a prankster, like you to appreciate that"

Rainbow smirked and said "Yeah, you're right"

"As my brother would say, eeyup"

Applejack then noticed that something had caught Rainbow's attention.

The blue mares ears pointed to the sky, as she attentively listened to something "Do you hear that?" Rainbow asked.

Applejack stopped to listen and the faint sound of clanking metal and whirring gears caught her ear.

Rainbow Dash shot up into the sky, to get a better view.

"Holy Hayfare!" Rainbow exclaimed, she then zipped back to, Applejack, and said "Follow me, you're not going to believe this"

Rainbow jetted off, as ,Applejack followed.

The two came to a dirt rode on the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres, and saw a house moving down the rode on treads.

The two ponies stared at the oddity, both equally perplexed by it.

"It's a house on wheels" said Applejack.

"That's so cool... I guess" Rainbow commented, not really sure what to think "It looks like it's going into town"

Applejack, began to walk along side of the mobile home as, Rainbow Dash flew to the front of the house, and hovered as she knocked on the front door.

"Anypony home?" Rainbow asked.

A muffled yell came from inside.

"Did you catch that?" Rainbow asked, Applejack.

"Nope, try knocking again" Applejack suggested

Rainbow did so, this time a window on the second floor of the building popped open and somepony's head popped out "Push the button" The pony said, before she retracted her head back inside, not allowing, Rainbow could get a good look at her.

Rainbow examined the door and found a button with a speaker over top of it.

Rainbow pushed the button and said "Hello"

A loud electronic squeal came from the device, followed by a voice "Who is it?" The voice asked.

Rainbow hesitated before responding, seeing it as silly to be speaking to a box "I'm Rainbow Dash"

"The, Rainbow Dash" the voice said excitedly.

"Oh, so I guess you've head of me" Rainbow said proudly.

"No, I just assume it makes pony's feel special if you make a big deal out of them... that didn't sound insulting did it?"

"Eh, maybe a little, who am I talking to?" Rainbow asked, as her patience began to fade.

"Oh you'll get to know that and more, at the show" the voice said, trying, and failing to be ominous.

"What show?" Rainbow asked.

"You know, a show" The voice said, not realizing it had not divulged any useful information at all.

"That doesn't answer my question at all" Rainbow said.

The pony giggled and said, while trying to hold back her nervous excitement "I'm building suspense"

Rainbow released the button and said uncomfortably "Well... good luck with that"

"What?" the voice asked

"What do you mean what?" Rainbow asked, obviously becoming annoyed

"You let go of the button, didn't you?" the voice asked.

"Yeah, so what?" Rainbow asked, her completely patience exhausted.

A few moments passed and the voice again asked "What?"

Rainbow let out an annoyed groan, and flew back to Applejack.

"Did ya find out anything?" Applejack asked.

"No, she said I had to hold a stupid button, and if I didn't she couldn't hear me, what's up with that"

"Seems kind of weird, maybe she's just shy"

"Well either way, the excitement of seeing a house move down the rode just got killed... oh and she said something about a show in town"

"Well we should probably go see about that"

"Whatever ya think. Want to race to town?" Rainbow asked.

"3,2,1, Go" Applejack said, before darting off ahead, as subtle pay back for, Rainbow's head start. Rainbow then descended to the ground, and bolted off after, Applejack.

Unbeknownst to them, the mare in the house was watching them through the window she had popped her head out of before.

Binary's home had changed substantially over the years. The walls and floor were chrome, and hid circuitry for Chip's holographic form to move freely throughout the house. The overall look was something that didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the world, not a problem for, Binary, as she did not intend on having guests... ever

Binary however had not changed much at all, aside from her having earned her cutie mark, a heart made of golden gears, and a few slight fashion adjustments in the form of a black vest with a large amount of pockets, and two red bracelets on her left front hoof, as well a black bow on the back of her head.

Binary spoke to the seemingly empty room "How do you think they get so good at talking like that?"

Chip's holographic body appeared on the windowsill and he responded "I require more information, to provide a satisfactory response"

Binary rested her head on her hooves, and replied "You know, just casual face to face conversation"

"I suspect they were given situations where they could freely express themselves with minimal judgement on what they are commenting on"

Binary let out a small groan and said "Stop that"

"Elaborate?" Chip asked.

"Talking like a machine, it bugs me" replied Binary.

Chip's holographic body flickered for a moment and responded "I apologize, you know my mind works approximately ten times faster than an average life form, thus allowing, me to respond with nothing but the most proper and straight forward of words... I did it again, sorry"

The two looked across the fields, and shared a quiet, peaceful moment, aside from the excess noise of the house moving on it's treads.

The two had not interacted with anypony in years. Their self imposed isolation allowed them to focus all their energy into their work to better the world... although it had not yet been seen what this isolation had done to, Binary's mind.

Chip asked hesitantly "Are you ready?"

The question caught Binary off guard and she attempted to shrug it off "For the show, pfft, I've been practising for like, ever"

Chip looked Binary in the eye and asked "I don't mean practised, or prepared, I mean are you ready?"

Binary gazed at the upcoming town, then looked at the ground, as she thought about her response. She looked to her companion and said enthusiastically "I, guess so!"

Chip did not respond; his processing systems had already determined that Binary was not ready to face a crowd, but he could do nothing to stop her. He could only perceive correctional action destroying her confidence completely, and that was something he wouldn't dare do.

Chip looked to the town and said "We're approaching our destination, I'll run some tests on what you have chosen to showcase"

Binary didn't respond, instead she simply stared in the direction of ponyville, with a quivering smile on her face.

Meanwhile in Ponyville...

Twilight was currently inside, the Golden Oak Library, studying a ratty old book which detailed Equestria's history; although it was heavily damaged and the author seemed to have written it more as a story book than an actual historical documentation.

Twilight read a passage aloud, much to the dismay of her dragon companion, who was finishing mopping the floor and had spent the rest of the day hearing Twilight complain about how someone could have let a book fall into such disrepair.

"The celestial sisters, scratched, scarred and blistered, entered chaos's domain

The one who dwelled there was not evil per-say, but all would claim he's insane

The chaotic one mocked them, this did not at all shock them

For they knew harmony would win them the day

They knew harmony would light their way"

Twilight closed the book and turned to face her assistant "Well that's stuff I already know, and the rest all seems to be crazy ramblings" she said.

"Then why are you reading it?" Spike asked as he dipped his mop into the bucket.

Twilight explained "What if there's some crazy, secret clue in here that could help us protect Equestria from evil, because without the elements we don't really have much in the terms of defence"

"Maybe the next time some villain shows up, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna could take care of it"

Twilight began to disagree with spike "No, they... on second thought, you raise a good point..."

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by, Applejack and, Rainbow Dash, who barrelled through the door of the library.

"Wait a second, wipe your..." Spike let out an annoyed groan as the two friendly rivals tracked dirt onto the floor he had just mopped.

Applejack looked at the mess and apologized "Sorry about that, Spike, we were..."

Rainbow interrupted, Applejack as she stood and dusted herself off "We were in a rush to tell you guys about the house that's coming into town"

"What's so special about that?" asked Twilight.

Rainbow was surprised by the reaction and asked "What do mean, what's so special? It's a moving house!"

Twilight explained reaction "I've seen houses move before, it's quite a complicated feat of levitation, but it's definitely doable"

Applejack corrected Twilight's assumption "No, it's got nothing to do with magic, it's just moving on wheels, with nopony pulling it"

Twilight raised and eye brow and said, suddenly interested "That is weird, and you say it's coming here?"

"Yep" Applejack replied "Come on ya'll, Rainbow said there's going to be some kind of show"

Twilight stood up from her desk and walked to the door, then turned to see, Spike grabbing his mop "Aren't you going to come with us, Spike?" she asked.

Spike replied "No, I think I'm just going to stay here and... mop again"

"Well... okay, have fun, I guess" Twilight said before leaving with her friends.

As Spike mopped he couldn't help but be reminded of his steadily increasing role of lackey.

Elsewhere...

Binary's home had came to a stop outside Sugarcube corner, and thus was where the crowd had gathered.

Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack arrived, and were disappointed by their positions at the back of the crowd.

"I can't really see anything" Twilight complained.

"I don't think anythings happened yet" said, Rainbow Dash.

"Well why don't you guys just fly over the crowd" Applejack suggested.

"What?" Rainbow asked in response to her friend "and leave you here to stare at the back of dozens of pony's heads, no way"

The three then noticed Pinkie Pie and Rarity approaching.

"Hey girls" Pinky called, as she bounced towards them.

Rarity moved at a much slower pace, as it appeared she had harmed her back somehow.

"Oh my, Rarity what happened to you?" Twilight asked.

Rarity groaned "Ask, Pinkie Pie" Rarity said as she shot the pink pony an annoyed glare.

Pinkie then explained "Well, you know I have my Pinkie sense, right? It seems what happens when a house rolls into town is that I jump on, Rarity..." Pinkie let out an awkward chuckle before saying "I landed a little too hard"

Rarity added to the story "And I was currently at the spa with, Fluttershy, and the sudden crashing and yelling spooked the poor dear off, and now I have a terrible back ache"

"Then why are you out here?" Rainbow asked.

"I am waiting for the opportune moment to throw, Pinkie into something either disgusting, or hard. I haven't decided which, and when inspiration strikes me, I want her to be in close proximity, so it can be in the moment" Rarity explained, somehow, adding her own sophisticated manner of speech into essentially, a revenge plot.

"It's going to be soooooooooooo much fun" Pinkie said, completely missing the intent of the statement.

Rarity groaned and asked the rest of the group "So does anypony actually know what all the fuss is about?"

The four replied in unison "No"

"Well that's just grand" Rarity said sarcastically "We don't know what's going to happen, who's going to do it, or if anythings even going to happen, yet almost the entire town is out here waiting for... potentially nothing"

The group stopped to think about the situation for a few moments.

Pinkie then broke the groups silence "Well it seems like a poorly thought out plot device if you think about like that"

Back inside Binary's house...

Inside the house, Binary was in a frenzy, making last minute arrangements and tweaks to her inventions.

Chip began to check things off on a holographic checklist "The levitation wand is at optimal energy output, the VR helmet is running at the highest video quality we have available, and the smart tray prototypes are connected and ready to transmit information through our servers"

"I'm so excited," Binary squealed.

"You do realize, this will be your first interaction with other ponies, in two thousand, five hundred, and ninety six days, or approximately seven years" Chip stated, trying to be as blunt as possible.

Binary stopped and thought about it, then joked "It's been that long, felt more like eight or ten"

Chip lowered his head and looked away from, Binary, as he tried to make his words seem as caring as possible "I'm just informing, you, that such sudden exposure could be dangerous, perhaps we should have begun with a smaller town, or... just go back to the hill"

Binary's tone suddenly became more serious "Chip, if we're going to make the world better, then we need to be a part of it... no matter how scary it seems"

Chip did not respond; the logic seemed to make sense, but he knew that it would not be that simple.

Binary, walked to the front door and listened to the murmurs outside. Her body began to tremble as her pessimistic side began to break through.

What if they laughed, what if they rejected her, what if they simply didn't want her, what if it was total disaster... but what if it wasn't?

Binary pulled a remote control from one of her many pockets and pressed one of the buttons.

Outside, a cheerful horn blew and confetti shot out from the various spots on the building. A red carpet unrolled from the houses steps, and then, there was no noise, no action, no comments from the crowd. Everypony's attention had been captured by the display.

Binary took in a deep breath and burst out the door, then somersaulted down the carpet and came to a stop on her knees, with her arms stretched to the sky and a huge smile on her face.

The citizens of Ponyville simply stared at the unicorn, who didn't seem to be doing anything.

The crowd began to whisper among themselves "Why is she just standing there?" a stallion asked.

"I don't get it" a young filly said.

Binary's heart raced, her eyes darted around as she saw the shocked faces that stared back at her. She didn't know what to do, her mind had gone completely blank... she couldn't do anything, she was frozen, her only action being her shallow breath.

The crowd became impatient with the lack of pay off for their patience and quickly began to leave. The group of five however took this as a chance to get a closer look at what was happening... or rather not happening.

As the crowd began to dissipate, Binary's fear began to disappear and she awkwardly tried to salvage her show "Wait... I have, umm... an amazing wand, that can... uh... make... do... stuff"

To the crowd that remained, it seemed that the unicorn had simply made a bad sales pitch, and had wasted their time. What little of the crowd that remained, simply stared at Binary and a few young pony's snickered at her.

All positivity left Binary's body "I'm sorry, I've wasted your time" she said, in a barely audible voice. She then turned and walked back to her home, and stopped in front of her door.

The group stared at the unicorn, as she walked away, all of them couldn't help but relate to her situation.

Applejack recalled her experiences after disappointing herself with her performance at the Equestria Rodeo.

Rainbow Dash remembered her insecurities about her flying abilities at the best young flyer competition, and how it effected her performance.

Rarity was reminded of one of her fashion show, and how unforeseen circumstances, made the initial show a flop.

Pinkie remembered herself before discovering parties and how hard it must be for no one to nurture and accept your talents.

Twilight recalled herself saying the exact same words during her entrance exam for, Celestia's School for gifted unicorns.

"Do you think we should talk to her?" Twilight asked her friends.

"She does seem rather depressed" said Rarity.

"I liked the part where she rolled out" Pinkie said.

"We always end up doing stuff like this anyway, so I guess we might as well" Applejack said.

"She seems sort of strange though" Rainbow said, she was then immediately shot annoyed glances from the rest of group "Sorry, but she is. But I'm totally down with the whole helping her out thing"

Twilight couldn't help but agree, with, Rainbow's statement. The unicorn did seem rather odd, almost out of place "Well, I thought all of you were strange when I first came here, maybe she just needs a friend"

The group all nodded in agreement and began to walk towards, Binary.

Inside, Chip waited for, Binary to enter, ready to help make things better for her, and stop the sadness he knew was flowing through her... But Binary didn't come inside.

Binary stood outside, and attempted to hide her tears from whoever may be watching. She suddenly began to stamp her front hooves on the ground and let out a frustrated moan. Binary had conquered her loneliness long ago, but the one thing that kept her separated from the rest of the world, was the same thing that had made her fail; her fear of the world itself. A blind fury towards herself swept over her and, Binary reared her head back, then smashed her skull onto the door, with enough force to break the end off of her horn and render her unconscious.

The group stared for a moment in disbelief of what had just happened. Applejack dashed to, Binary and began fanning her with her hat.

"Twilight can ya use a spell to wake her up or something?' Applejack asked.

"She's not just asleep, she's unconscious, it could damage her brain if I forced her out of it" Twilight explained.

"We should get her inside" Rarity suggested.

Rainbow dashed to, Binary's door and attempted to open it.

Inside, Chip heard the the pony attempting to enter, he began to panic as he had no protocol to deal with such a scenario. Chip ported himself to the window and looked to see the pony's crowding around Binary. Chip's body crackled with red sparks, as he experienced sheer fear, an emotion he was not aware he was capable of feeling.

Chip yelled and responded with a lock down protocol. He sealed the windows and doors, not taking into account that he had just locked Binary outside as well.

Rainbow gave up on the door and said to her friends "We're not getting in there anytime soon"

Pinkie raised her hand and said "We should take her to Sugarcube Corner, until she wakes up"

Twilight then began to give her friends instructions "Alright, Rarity you go set up a spot for us to set her down in Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow you go get a doctor, Applejack you go find, Fluttershy and see if she can help, Pinkie... don't freak her out when she wakes up"

"Okey Dokey Lokey" Pinkie said, in serious tone.

The group headed off to do their assigned jobs.

Twilight's horn began to glow as she levitated, Binary off the ground. She slowly walked to Sugarcube corner, carrying, Binary along with her.

Chip opened one of the windows, just a crack, and watched, in horror as his friend was taken away by the alicorn.

He quickly ported his body into his main storage disc. Six spider like legs unfolded from the bottom of the disc and he skittered to the door. He looked at the imposing size of the door and his logic confirmed he could not move it on his own. He then ran to one of the windowsills and began smashing into the glass. The window began to crack from the multiple strikes. Chip, then stepped himself back as far as he could, then charged into the window, breaking it, sending him flying out, and crashing to the ground.

Chip struck the ground hard, and quickly assessed the damage to his disc. The fall had broken several of the legs, which left him nearly motionless.

The ground around Chip became covered in a gigantic shadow. He looked up to see a seemingly giant orange filly with a spiky purple mane who nearly stepped on him.

The filly took a closer look at Chip, then called to two other fillies.

Chip desperately attempted to crawl away, making very little progress.

The two other filly's approached and joined in the inspection of the strange device.

"What is it?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Don't ask me, I just found it" Scootaloo replied.

Applebloom took a closer look "It's looks like a drink coaster, with a pony on it" she stated.

Chip's body began to flicker and fade, as he cowered in fear of the seemingly huge filly's, who stared at him, confused at to what he even was. All of, Chip's logic quickly failed him and his mind began to try and process information, he did not know how to cope with, and like a computer stricken with a virus, he shut down to repair himself.

The three filly's stared at the now inactive disc.

"That was weird" Scootaloo said.

"Should we... help it?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"It looked like, it was lost or something" Applebloom said.

"Hey, Blank Flanks" An annoying pair of voices yelled from behind the crusaders

The two turned to see, Diamond Tiara and, Silver Spoon approaching.

"Are you, three staring at a slug or something?" Silver Spoon asked.

The three attempted to ignore the pair, but they persisted.

Diamond Tiara looked at the disc on the ground and asked "Is that, thing yours?"

Sweetie Belle quickly whispered to her friends "If we say it's ours then she'll probably want to take it"

Applebloom and, Scootaloo nodded in agreement.

"No, it's not ours, we don't even know what it is" Applebloom said.

"You three, not owning things, and not knowing things, that is so in character" Silver Spoon said, mocking them.

Diamond Tiara eyed the device, and said "Well I suppose if it's not yours, then it could be mine"

"You mean ours, right, Di?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Sure" Diamond Tiara said, barely paying attention to her lackey.

Diamond Tiara then grabbed the disc, and waited, with a smile on her face, for the crusaders to react.

"You can't take that" Sweetie Bell said.

"It doesn't belong to you, give it back" Applebloom demanded.

Scootaloo, did not immediately respond, instead she simply shot, Diamond a frustrated glare.

"Don't you have something to say, Scootaloser?" Diamond asked, hoping to get a rise out of the flightless filly.

"Let's tackle her" Scootaloo said.

Diamond Tiara's, jaw dropped, in shock at the response.

Scootaloo took a step closer to the bratty pair. Diamond quickly ran off, as she held the disc in her mouth. Silver Spoon followed, close behind, as the Crusaders gave chase to the thieves.


	3. Chapter 3

A powerful pain throbbed in Binary's head as she slowly awoke. Binary lifted a hoof to her forehead and felt a bandage wrapped around her head. She looked down to see that she was resting on several pink pillows. Binary could see a group of blurred figures talking on the other side of the room. Although the room was brightly lit, light still shown through the window showing that the sun was beginning to set, indicating that Binary had been out for quite some time.

"Look, she woke up" Pinkie Pie cheered out.

"Remember Pinkie, don't freak her out" Twilight reminded her friend.

A light yellow blur approached Binary and asked with a soft voice "Hello, how are you feeling?"

The voice belonged to Fluttershy who along with Nurse Red Heart had tended to Binary while she was unconscious.

Binary felt her face and quickly realized that her blurred vision was due to her not wearing her glasses. She felt around for them, eventually having them placed on her hoof by, Fluttershy. Binary placed the glasses on her face and quickly took in her surroundings. She immediately realized that she was not in her own house and was way outside her comfort zone. She appeared to be in the bedroom of someone who had an obsession with Pink.

Binary's body began to shutter violently which put the ever cautious Fluttershy on edge. Binary suddenly screamed, which in turn caused Fluttershy to scream, which prompted Pinkie to scream, because everyone else seemed to be doing it.

"Pinkie" Twilight said sternly.

"What, It was totally Fluttershy that freaked her out" said Pinkie Pie.

"Don't worry, I'm trained for these sorts of situations" Nurse Red Heart said as she approached, Binary. The Nurse then placed her front hooves on, Binary's shoulders, looked her in the eye and calmly said "Don't be frightened, you're among friends and everything is going to be fine"

Binary stopped screaming, sat down and took note of her current state. She then bombarded the four with questions "Where am I? Who are you ponies? Why am I here? Why does my head hurt? Are you an alicorn? Would you like to buy some fudge? Am I missing the end of my horn? Why did the yellow one scream at me and why did the pink one scream too? What is the meaning of life?

All except Pinkie had failed to catch most of Binary's questions, and the Pink Pony responded to each of them (in order no less) "You're in my room. This is Twilight, Fluttershy, Nurse Red Heart and I'm Pinkie Pie. You got knocked out. Because you got knocked out. Yes she is. I'd love some fudge if you have any but I don't think you do. Yes you're missing the end of your horn. Fluttershy screamed because she's shy and I screamed because it was funny. And finally, to pursue happiness"

Binary was about to ask several more questions of varying relevance when Pinkie grabbed a cupacke off of a tray on her her bed and shoved it into the unicorns mouth to give Binary a chance to calm down as she chewed.

"If you feel up to it, we have a few questions for you" Twilight said.

Binary swallowed the cupcake and knelt down a bit, noticeably intimidated by the alicorn, which caught Twilight off guard.

"What's your name?" Twilight asked, trying to sound as caring as possible.

Binary hesitated for a moment, then quietly answered "Binary Steel"

"What was it you were trying to do out there?" Asked Twilight.

The shift in conversation to a topic, Binary was the expert in instantly sparked her confidence. She shot up onto her hooves "Let me show you" she said excitedly.

Binary reached into one of her numerous pockets and pulled out a small metal wand with a green light on the tip. Binary pointed the wand at some pillows on Pinkie's bed... but nothing happened.

"Give me a sec" Binary said before she gently tapped the wand on the ground. She pointed the wand at the pillows again and they became engulfed in multicoloured energy, similar to that of a unicorns magic aura but lacking the sparkles. The pillows lifted into the air and circled around the other ponies heads.

"That's so neat-o!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Binary lowered the pillows back down to their original spot then tossed the wand to Pinkie. "Give it a try" she said.

Pinkie caught the wand in her mouth and pointed it towards the tray of cupcakes. The tray of treats hovered above Pinkie's face and she spat out the wand, which allowed the tray of pastries to fall on her face.

"It stops working if you let go" Binary said.

"I was hoping it would" Pinkie said as she licked the treats off her face.

"So that makes it so anypony can levitate?" Twilight asked, noticeably impressed.

"Yep, isn't it just the most super duper thing ever" Binary replied with a proud smile.

Twilight levitated the wand and examined it "How does it work?" She asked.

"I could explain but... Ooh, I know, I'll just give you this" Binary reached into another pocket, pulled out a cassette player and handed (or hooved) it to Twilight "That tape explains it all, I've got one for each of my inventions"

"Interesting" Twilight said as she continued to examine the device.

Binary's face lit up in response to the very subtle praise of her invention. She then jumped and landed an uncomfortably close distance to Twilight "I have more, do you want to see more?" she asked.

Twilight took a few steps back from the suddenly overexcited, Binary.

"Maybe you should rest for a little while longer" Fluttershy suggested.

Binary completely ignored Fluttershy. This was exactly what Binary had been hoping for, a chance to show someponies her inventions, she couldn't pass that up for something as irrelevant as head trauma.

"Follow me" Binary said as she ran out of Pinkie's room. A few moments passed and Binary peaked her head back into the room "How do I get out of here?" she asked, her face a little red with embarrassment.

"Stairs on your left" Pinkie answered.

"Thanks" Binary said before once again running away, leaving the four ponies in Pinkie's room.

The four ponies followed Binary down to the main floor and found her standing at the bottom of the stairs, petrified at the sight of the numerous ponies in Sugarcube Corner.

"Are you okay, Binary?" Twilight asked.

"I think my head is starting to hurt again" Binary said as she attempted to back up the stairs only to bump into Fluttershy.

"She seems shy" Fluttershy whispered to Twilight.

"No, she seems terrified" Twilight responded, also whispering

"So blowing an air horn to get her moving probably isn't a good idea" Pinkie said at a normal volume.

Binary turned to see that she was blocking the others path and scrunched to the side of the stairs as far as she could so they could pass.

"What's wrong, Gizmo" Pinkie asked.

"Gizmo?" Binary said, not understanding the nick name. "I think I'll just go out a window, seems like it would be easier"

"Is there something scary down there, like a huge spider, or a frowny face?" Pinkie asked, in her own way attempting to try and lighten the unicorns mood.

"No, I... just..." Binary sighed and looked out to the ponies being served in the bakery, she then explained herself "Some of those ponies out there were in the crowd, what if they laugh at me"

"What's wrong with being laughed at" Pinkie said before she ran out into the bakery, and did several bizarre Pinkie-esque things to get a laugh out of the customers.

"She's kind of weird" Binary said to the others.

"Not really, she's just being Pinkie Pie" Twilight said in defence of her friend.

Nurse Red Heart interjected as she walked past the three ponies "No, she's pretty weird" she said as she left for the hospital.

Binary hung her head and said "I'm sorry"

"No need for apologies" Fluttershy said "It's natural to be a little nervous around people, I should know, I'm nervous almost all the time"

"...Okay" Binary said, not sure how to react.

"Just follow me" Fluttershy instructed.

Binary reluctantly followed the pegasus into the main shop area. Binary looked to see a yellow earth pony behind the counter taking orders. A blue earth pony with a pink mane that resembled swirled ice cream came from the back of the store and noticed, Binary.

"Hello there deary, are you feeling better?" Mrs. Cake asked Binary.

Binary stopped moving, she could feel her nerves once again beginning to seize her. Binary then heard a knock from underneath the floor boards and looked down to see the eyes of Pinkie Pie staring up at her.

"Respond" Pinkie advised.

"Uh... Okay" Binary said to, Pinkie, who then closed her eyes and disappeared into the darkness. Binary looked back at Mrs. Cake and hesitantly replied to the question "I'm fine... how are you?"

"Oh I'm just peachy dear, you have a nice day okay" Mrs. Cake cheerily replied.

A small smile came to Binary's face. It felt nice for her to have spoken to somepony who cared about how she was doing and to have been wished to have a good day. Chip had always arranged periodic check ups on Binary's mood but it just didn't seem the same as the small interaction she just had. Binary looked to see Twilight and Fluttershy waiting for her at the door. Binary smiled at the two and walked towards them. The three then exited the bakery.

Binary looked around and saw that her house was still where she had parked it.

"See, now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Twilight asked.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be" Binary replied "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my house and... move away forever" Binary began to walk back to her house, seemingly less positive than she was a moment ago and having completely forgotten about showing the ponies her inventions.

"Do you think we should do something?" Fluttershy asked as she noticed the change.

"Maybe we should follow her" Pinkie said as she suddenly appeared behind the two, which startled Fluttershy.

"We can't just follow her into her house for no reason" Twilight said in an attempt to bring some realism to the situation.

"But you saw what happened before, what if she..." Fluttershy paused and forced out the last few words "...hurts herself again"

Twilight had tried to keep the thought from her mind, but judging from Binary's apparent instability, it would simply be irresponsible for them to let her go only to potentially do it again... or something more severe.

"Hmm, you're right... we can't leave her alone at moment like this" Twilight said.

"Should I bring my party cannon?" Pinkie asked, as she pulled her famous cannon out of thin air.

"I don't think she's ready for the party cannon" said Fluttershy.

Pinkie's expression suddenly sunk into a frown "Aww" she said as she pulled the string on her cannon which sprayed herself with confettie.

Back at Binary's house, the mare stared at the broken piece of her horn which laid on her door mat. Binary simply kicked the object away as she never had any particular use for it anyway. Binary sighed before she grabbed her specifically designed hoof gripping door knob and attempted to turn it, only to find that she had been locked out.

"OH Come on!" Binary growled "Chip open the door, I am not in the mood for this" Binary knocked on the door and waited for a moment, then tried the knob again "Since when do you pull pranks?" Binary began to knock harder on the door, but still received no response from Chip. Binary quickly became frustrated and she began to pound on the door with her hooves.

After a few minutes, Binary gave up, then sat down and rested her head on her hooves.

"Why won't you let me i..." Binary suddenly stopped as her mind clicked, and thought of a potential situation. She stood, then walked around her home, unfortunately finding what she assumed she would. A broken window; the pieces linked up and the realization of what had happened frightened her.

The three ponies approached Binary as she began to panic. Binary turned to see the the group and ran towards them, catching them off guard and causing Fluttershy to seek cover behind Twilight.

Binary began to spew out nonsense, her mouth seemingly unable to translate her thoughts into words.

"Is little Pipsqueak trapped in the well again?" Pinkie asked, although it was impossible to tell if she was making a joke or actually being serious.

"Binary, calm down" Twilight said.

Binary took several deep breaths and visibly began to calm down.

"Now, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

Binary whimpered for a moment, then cried out "I've lost my friend" Binary began to quickly explain what has happened at a pace that nopony could understand "My friend Chip must have seen me out the window, panicked and put my house in lock down, got into his disc and jumped out the window to try and help me, then got crushed or stolen or eaten or vaporized or liquified or corroded, or blown up..."

Pinkie then grabbed Binary and shook her to break her from her freak out.

"Thanks" Binary said "Can you help me find my friend?"

"What does he look like?" Twilight asked

"Well... he'll look like a little blue pony standing on a disc" Binary said.

The three ponies were not quite sure how to react, the description had even caught the random Pinkie Pie off guard.

Binary had no time to waste with further explanation "Help me look!" she pleaded before darting off.

The ponies decided not to question the description and began to ask around town for any information to the location of Binary's friend, even going so far as to ask some of the other residents of the town to help. As the word spread, the description became more obscure and less accurate to the point of being the complete opposite of what Binary had said. Unfortunately the only ponies, or rather the only fillies who had seen Chip were currently just outside ponyville.

The cutie mark crusaders had given up on getting the strange device back from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, as the prissy duo had somehow slipped away from them near the edge of the everfree forest.

"What do you suppose that thing even was?" Scootaloo asked her friends.

"I don't know," Applebloom replied "but whoever it belonged to is probably looking for it"

The three were then stopped by Carrot Top "Have you girls seen a big green stallion with a white mane around here, apparently he's standing on a plate"

"No, sorry" Sweetie Bell responded.

"Oh, well if you see anything go to Sugarcube Corner, there's a unicorn there who's having a bit of a break down" Carrot Top said before continuing the search.

"A green stallion standing on a plate, that's just silly" Sweetie Belle said.

"Well we certainly haven't seen anything like that" said Scootaloo

The sky began to turn orange as the sun touched the horizon.

Applebloom took note of the time and said "Well I better be gettin back home, see ya'll at school tomorrow"

Applebloom then galloped in the direction of Sweet Apple acres.

"Yeah, I better get back home, Mom and Dad will probably be wondering where I am" Sweetie Belle said before trotting back to her home.

Scootaloo also began to walk back to... (where ever it is she goes).

Just on the edge of the everfree forest, the two bratty fillies and inadvertently Chip as well, found themselves lost in the dense forest. The two wandered around aimlessly as they attempted to find a way out. Silver Spoon held the device they had taken in her mouth as she followed Diamond Tiara's lead.

"Why did you think it was good idea to come in here?" Diamond Tiara asked.

Silver stopped and spat out the disc "What, I was following you!" she yelled.

"No way, I totally remember you saying we should hide in here so the blank flanks wouldn't catch us"

Silver Spoon groaned and walked away from her friend. "Are you kidding me. She said to come in here, honestly I don't why I hang out with her sometimes" she grumbled to herself.

Silver Spoon stopped in a small clearing and rested on a large flat rock

"Stupid forest" She said to herself as she placed her head onto her front hooves and pouted. Silver Spoons ears shot up as she heard a faint slivering sound. Silver Spoon looked down to see a small elec-python.

The creatures black and green body meshed with the ground and its back was lined with small pebbles. The creature raised its head, it's body crackled with electricity as it hissed at Silver Spoon.

Silver Spoon was not frightened by the small creature "Eww gross" she said before she kicked the serpent away.

The rock the grey filly was resting on suddenly began to rumble. Silver Spoon looked down beside her and saw a large eye staring up at her.

"Diamond Tiara!" She screamed for her friend as a much larger elec-python began to lift it's head off the ground.

Diamond Tiara ran to where Silver Spoon had screamed and watched in horror as the creature revealed it's imposing stature.

The larger elec-python was close to fifty feet long and it's back was lined with massive boulders. The creature flipped it's head back, launching the terrified Silver Spoon into the air, then caught her with the end of it's tail.

"Help me!" Silver Spoon screamed as she hopelessly struggled against the creatures grip.

Diamond Tiara immediately began to throw anything she could find at the beast, although the objects didn't even bother it enough to warrant a response from the serpent. The pink pony looked around for a better projectile and grabbed Chip's storage disc then chucked it at the beast.

As the disc impacted some of the creatures electricity transferred into the disc triggering Chip's systems to restart. Chip's holographic body appeared as he struck the ground. The damage to his systems caused the worlds colours to be temporarily inverted. Chip looked up and scanned what was happening as the elec-python raised the grey pony up to drop it inside it's mouth. In Chip's eyes the grey fillies body and silver mane appeared reversed and Silver's glasses caused Chip to assume that the pony in peril was, Binary.

Chip's mind moved quicker than it ever had before as he attempted to find a way he could save the pony in peril. The sudden increase in stress caused Chip's disc to quickly overheat. Chip's body began to glow red and he suddenly expanded his holographic body to be much larger than that of the serpent.

The creature stopped and stared at the now massive Chip.

Chip was too lost in his reactive state to notice that the pony was not Binary "Put her down!" Chip yelled with his speakers at max volume.

The creature appeared stunned for a few moments but quickly shook off the surprise and advanced upon Chip.

As the beast drew closer Chip's body began to crackle and fizz and his form morphed into a sleeker, more intimidating body shape. A large mouth with jagged teeth suddenly appeared on Chip's face as well as large black eyes with yellow pupils.

Chip stood his ground and let out a computerized scream "BBBBBZZZZZZZOOOOOORRRRRTTTT!" Chip continued to assault the beast with a barrage of loud computerized sounds.

The serpent dropped Silver Spoon to the ground as it attempted to cover it's ears with it's tail. The grey filly covered her ears with her hooves and ducked to the ground, as did Diamond Tiara.

The elec-python slowly began to succumb to the sound and after a few moments quickly retreated into a denser part of the forest.

Chip's body continued to crackle and spark as his hologram shrunk back down to it's original size. Chip looked to see the two fillies holding each other and shivering from fear.

"It saved me" Silver Spoon said.

Diamond Tiara pulled away from her friend "No way, I threw it, you should be thanking me"

"Incorrect" Chip stated "You obviously don't understand my functions, thus you did not plan for me to... what did I do?"

"What do you mean?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"I don't quite understand what I did to make the entry not found flee" Chip said.

"Well... you scared it away" said Silver Spoon.

"But, I am not frightening" Chip said, obviously confused.

"Well you were, once you grew and made a lot of noise" Silver Spoon explained.

"Yeah, and if my ears are damaged, you are so going to pay" Diamond Tiara hissed.

Chip's body fizzed for a moment "I do not understand" he said.

"Who cares," Diamond Tiara whined "let's get out of this stupid forest before something else wants to see what we taste like" Diamond Tiara thrust her head back and held her nose high in the air as she proudly walked forward.

"If you're desired destination is ponyville then you are heading in the completely wrong direction" Chip said

Diamond Tiara stopped and shot an annoyed glare at Chip. The pink filly turned around and walked in the correct direction.

"Did I do something wrong?" Chip asked Silver Spoon.

"No, she's just like that"

"Why?"

"Do you even care?"

Chip's body flickered once again and he replied "...Care?"

"I didn't think so, and no one else seems to either" Silver said as she looked to her helplessly stuck up friend. "I suppose you need somepony to carry you?"

Chip looked at his disc and answered "Affirmative"

Silver Spoon leaned down to grab the disc but stopped "Could you... not be... whatever it is you are now?" she asked the holographic pony.

Chip deduced what the filly meant and turned off his holographic form.

Silver Spoon picked up the disc and trotted off after Diamond Tiara.

Back in Sugarcube corner, Binary sat at a table as she slowly sipped from a milk shake, she had been given. The treat was a welcome change from her usual diet of experimental re-hydrated meals, but her mind was too busy to appreciate it.

Binary thought back to when Chip had suggested they just go back to the hill.

"Why didn't I listen to you" she said to herself as she hung her head over the table.

The shops door bell rang out signalling someponies entry. Binary looked to see Twilight Sparkle, who approached her with a disappointed look on her face.

"Did you find him?" Binary asked, oblivious to Twilight's body language.

"No, I'm sorry" Twilight replied.

Binary quickly became frustrated "Maybe you didn't look hard enough" she said bitterly.

Twilight didn't show it but she was quite offended by the accusation. Twilight was about to say something but was cut off by an already apologetic Binary.

"I'm sorry... It's just that I've never been away from him for this long... I need him, and he needs me"

"How long have you two been friends?" Twilight asked as she sat down beside the unicorn.

"Since I was filly" Binary answered "Although he wasn't actually alive until seven years ago"

Twilight's eyes widened as she took in what was said "What do you me..." Twilight cut her sentence short, as she assumed it was not a good time to be questioning what Binary had said.

"I know why you're doing this" Binary said.

"What?" Twilight asked, unsure of what Binary meant.

"You saw me hit my head on the door"

Twilight's ears lowered slightly.

"I'm not depressed, or crazy... I just get frustrated when I let anypony down, but Chip was always their to make it better"

Twilight's expression sunk lower as she realized just how much Binary had lost in just one day.

Binary stood up from the table and said "I suppose I'll go sleep on my porch tonight (yawn) then start looking for Chip in the morning" Binary hung her head as she slowly walked to the exit.

"Wait" Twilight said as also left the table.

"What?" Binary asked.

"I can't let you stay outside all night, we should find somepony who could take you in for the night"

"Like who?"

"Well..." Twilight thought on the subject. She couldn't very well let Binary sit in a motel room all alone. It would most likely be unwise to leave Binary under the care of Pinkie Pie, Applejack had not yet met Binary, Rarity's back was still injured, Fluttershy's animals may make Binary uneasy and as for Rainbow Dash the reason was obvious (she lives in the clouds).

"...I guess, you could spend the night in the library with, Spike and me"

"You live in a libra..." Binary stopped, after she realized how rude she was being and then said "Well... as long as it's not too much trouble"

"Not at all"

Binary's expression rose to a slight smile "Thanks" she said as the alicorn led her out of the bakery.

Meanwhile...

Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara approached the mansion of the grey filly. The manors size and grandeur was only matched by, Diamond Tiara's own home which of course was larger than any other in ponyville. The grey filly stopped outside the large silver gates as Diamond Tiara continued on her own path.

Silver Spoon dropped Chip's disc for a moment "See ya tomorrow" Silver Spoon said as her friend's distance increased. Silver Spoon waited for response but did not receive one, any other pony would have taken this as a sign of Diamond's stuck up attitude but Silver Spoon could tell the subtleties of her friend. In truth the pink filly was just embarrassed because she had almost gotten both of them eaten.

Silver Spoon approached the large gate, pushed it open and quickly trotted to the large red doors and entered. The interior of the building was just as grand as the outside although the grandeur was overshadowed by the sheer lack of life or noise inside the mansion. Much of the buildings size was taken up by rooms such as the families private library, lounge area and kitchen, witch left the upper floors for the families bed rooms.

Silver Spoon's father and her step mother had most likely retired to their room.

Silver Spoon quietly walked along the polished black and white checkered floor until she reached a large marble stair case. The filly softly climbed the stairs, wary of creating any unnecessary noise, especially considering that she would need to explain to her father about what the disc and what she was doing with it in her mouth.

Once at the top of the stairs, Silver walked down one of numerous hallways which were decorated with pictures of Silver Spoon and her family in some of their more happy moments. One such picture was a of a baby Silver Spoon sitting on the floor in front of a fire place trying on a pair of her biological mothers glasses, as the proud parents watched from a long sofa, both thoroughly amused.

Silver Spoon walked a little further down the hall and stopped at the sight of another, newer picture. This one of the present day family posing outside the house. Silver's step mother happily clung to the rich stallion, as Silver Spoon sat almost out of frame with a forced smile on her face.

Silver Spoon groaned as she continued to her room. She dropped Chip's disc to the ground, which triggered his holographic body to reappear.

Chip stared up at the filly as she turned the appropriately sliver door knob and pushed the door open.

Silver looked back down and jumped back slightly at the sight of Chip.

"Where am I?" Chip asked.

"Shhhh... You'll wake my Dad" Silver Spoon whispered.

Silver Spoon bent down to pick the disc up, but stopped half way, seeing it as too awkward to have a the body of small pony so close to her face. Instead she simply gave the disc a small kick witch caused it to slide into Silver Spoons room like a curling rock across the grey stone floor. Chip's disc met a sudden stop when it impacted a dark red rug. The sudden cease in momentum caused Chip's disc to flip over, much to Chip's annoyance.

Silver Spoon's room in no way reflected her age. Her bed, which was placed against the west wall, was larger than she needed, with purple covers and perfectly fluffed white pillows decorated with small silver designs along the edges. On the south side of the room was a small fireplace, a real oddity for a fillies room. Large doors to a walk in closet occupied the north wall and to the east there was a large window with a beautifully carved wooden desk and chair just beneath it, the desk itself had many trinkets on it, including a jewelry box and a small mirror.

Silver Spoon picked up Chip's disc and carried it to her desk. Silver sat in her chair and dropped the disc onto the desk, not noticing that it was upside down.

Silver Spoon examined the device, having not had the chance to look at it in depth before.

"Excuse me" Chip said.

"uh... what?" Silver asked.

"Could you please flip me over" Chip requested.

Silver spoon flicked the device over, once again revealing Chip's hologram. Chip quickly examined the room.

"Would you care to give me a designation for this area"

"Huh?"

Chip spoke slowly, under the assumption that Silver Spoon had simply not been listening "Where... am...I?"

"Oh... My house, I guess"

"Incorrect, my house is parked in ponyville, this I am assuming is your house" Chip said, reacting to the key words rather than the context.

"Wha...?"

"You're name?"

"Silver Spoon"

"Intriguing, seeing as how their is a silver spoon on you flank area"

Silver quickly looked at her flank "You mean my Cutie Mark"

"Ah, yes, Binary has one of those as well... do all pony's have these?"

"Well... once they find their special talent, then it just appears"

"Interesting"

"We call fillies who don't have theirs, blank flanks"

"Hmm... anyway, my friend would appreciate it greatly if I was returned to where you located me"

"Why?"

Chip hesitated and his voice strained to force out a simple explanation "... she needs me"

"Oh, well, I... wait a second, I'm sitting here taking orders from a pony on a plate"

Chip's ears flattened and his body crackled slightly indicating his annoyed state "It is not a plate, its my mobile A.I storage receptacle, my friend made it, and me"

"Well... why can't she just make another one of you"

Chip's body fizzed, he had not considered such a thing as a possibility... what's stopping him from being replaced... the thought disturbed him.

"What's wrong with you now?" Silver asked as she steadily began to lose interest.

Chip's fast moving mind scanned the question over and over again as he attempted to find a reason why he could not be replaced. He soon reached his conclusion... their wasn't a logical reason why he couldn't.

Chip's body turned red and crackled "Take me home now!" he yelled.

"Shhh... Remember the volume thing"

Chip quickly calmed down and stared at the ground, his mind did not tend to dwell on things for long but he somehow couldn't shake the situation he had been presented with. He hung his head low and stared at the ground.

Silver Spoon had seen a look like that before on Diamond Tiara, right after the pink fillies cutecenera when the blank flanks had thoroughly stolen the spotlight from Diamond at her own party. Silver decided to do what she did then.

"It's okay... we'll do what ever you want, okay"

"I just want..." Chip paused, what he wanted was for this day to never have happened; but on one hoof he was lost and separated from his only companion, yet on the other hoof he had learned so much about the world around home and he would be lying if he said it had been a total waste "I want to go home"

"Well... is it okay if I do that tomorrow?"

Chip looked back up at the filly and slowly nodded.

An awkwardly long pause ensued, witch was broken by a long yawn from Silver Spoon.

"Well, I guess it was nice to meet you... whatever you are"

"You may refer to me as Chip"

"Okay, Chip" Silver Spoon stood up from her chair and walked over to her bed. Silver Spoon suddenly stopped as she heard strange electronic music coming from Chip. Silver Spoon turned to see Chip staring at her.

"Uh... what's with the music" Silver Spoon asked "it sounds like really weak trot step"

"It is a lullaby I play for Binary every night" Chip said "Does it bother you?"

"Yes, please stop" Silver said bluntly as she took off her glasses and necklace, then placed them into a turquoise heart shaped box that seemed far older than everything else in the room. The filly then crawled into bed.

Chip turned and looked to the window, knowing that somewhere out there Binary was most likely going crazy with worry over his disappearance.

Binary stared at the golden oak library as the two approached it.

"So you live inside a tree?" Binary asked.

"Yes... is that a problem?"

"No... it's just that if you live in a tree, then if you go inside aren't you technically still outside"

Twilight stopped at the door and gave Binary a quick confused look. Twilight opened the door and led Binary inside, where the two found Spike asleep in a chair. The small dragon had attempted to wait for Twilight to return but was too tired to keep himself up.

At the sight of the small dragon, Binary instantly let out an "Aww. Is it your pet?"

"What, no, he's my assistant"

"Oh, does he bite?"

"No"

"Can I pet him?"

Twilight stared at Binary in disbelief, she had seemed so intelligent and down to earth before and now she couldn't seem to grasp the concept of Spike's role. Twilight of course did not voice this concern, instead she opted to calmly respond to the question "I don't think he'd appreciate that"

Binary let out a disappointed "Oh"

"I'll set up a spot for you to sleep upstairs" Twilight said as she went up to her loft to prepare the guest bed, leaving Binary downstairs unattended.

After a minute or two Twilight descended the stairs and to her surprise found Binary next to a stack of books, holding a strange black device resembling a pen in her mouth.

A hologram the size of a piece of paper appeared from the device and hovered over the ratty book that Twilight had been studying. The hologram descended and passed through the book.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked.

Binary turned to see Twilight and dropped the device onto the book. "I'm scanning your books"

"Scanning?" Twilight said, obviously confused

"Yeah" Binary pushed a button on the device witch created a green hologram of the book with every detail and imperfection perfectly presented. Binary then tossed the device to Twilight who caught with her magic.

Twilight stared at the book cover.

"Move your eyes like this" Binary said as her eyes looked to the right then swept over to the left.

Twilight did so and the holographic book opened, revealing the first page.

"Did it track my eyes?" Twilight asked.

Binary nodded in response "It even has a mode where it reads the book to you"

"That's amazing"

Binary's face went red in response to the praise "Well, Chip helped me a ... lot"

Binary's expression sunk as she was reminded of the situation.

Twilight placed the device on her desk. Once again Binary's persona confused Twilight, it seemed she had the attention span of a filly going from soaring highs to depressing lows in a matter of seconds. Twilight decided the best course of action was to keep Binary's mind off of Chip.

"Hey, why don't we go upstairs and you can tell me all about how these things work"

Binary's expression once again shot up and she bounced up and down in excitement.

Twilight then led the strange mare upstairs.

Binary examined the cozy loft. Just like everywhere else she had been to in the town, it felt warm and welcoming yet so unique and interesting.

"This pad is killer" Binary said.

"Pardon?"

"What, pony's don't say that anymore?"

"I haven't heard anyone talk like that in a decade, but it's a nice change of pace"

Binary walked to the plain white guest bed and flopped onto it.

Twilight then proceeded to her own bed then crawled in and laid down.

"So about your inventions?" Twilight asked.

Binary then went into a lengthy explanation "Well, it's sort of funny, my gadgets actually run on bone dust that I file off of my horn. You'd be surprised how much energy courses through unicorn horns if you mix it with certain chemicals, all I need is a little bit of dust for the power sources and they'll run for... actually my gadgets have never ran out of power so I have no idea how long a little keeps them running"

The explanation intrigued Twilight, partly due to her analytical and precise nature which sometimes conflicted with her friends more blunt ways of approaching things "So what's the reason you make all this stuff?" Twilight asked.

"Well (yawn) my dad was a black smith and an earth pony, a lot of people thought it was weird for an earth pony to have such a talent because it's usually a unicorn thing"

"Yes, because of levitation and magic making it easier"

"Exactly; anyway I would sometimes see him having trouble, so I thought to myself, what if an earth pony could levitate things like a unicorn can, and that's how I got started on my first ever invention, the levitation wand... but my Dad never really understood any of it, and then he died... then it was just me and Chip"

Twilight quickly began to understand why Binary was so upset over Chip's disappearance, he must have been the only friend she had.

"But Chip didn't come around as much as he used to, I guess we were getting a little too old for each other... but I needed him"

Twilight suddenly realized this was no longer a story about her inventions and she listened more intently.

"To me the world was scary, everything outside my door just led to more heartache, but I couldn't stay alone in that house anymore... so I made him real"

"What?" Twilight asked.

"I made him real" Binary said again.

"You mean he was fake?" Twilight asked, her voice doing little to hide her sudden aggravation

"He was my imaginary friend"

Twilight could not believe what she had heard, she sat up in her bed and yelled "What?! You had us running around the whole town all evening looking for an imaginary friend!"

Binary's let out fearful a fearful as she hid most of her face under the blankets and closed her eyes.

Twilight quickly realized the consequence of her outburst and apologized "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you"

Binary hid her head under the blankets completely and said, her voice almost childlike "I wish I had listened to Chip and just stayed on the hill. It was good enough for me for seven years and then I had to go and ruin everything!"

Twilight choked up a bit at the words "Seven years" Twilight thought "Seven years alone with nothing but an imaginary friend" What had Twilight gotten herself into, she had taken in a mentally broken, possibly schizophrenic pony. But above all else that was going through her mind one thing stood above the rest; Twilight had to help this pony.

Twilight slid out of her bed and walked over to Binary "Is their anything I can do to help you"

Binary hesitated for a moment and replied, her voice straining through her sadness "Could you... sing a lullaby to me... Chip always sang it every night"

"Of course"

"You mean it?"

"Yes, that's what friends do"

Binary poked a hoof out and waved Twilight to come closer. Twilight leaned in and Binary whispered the tune to her.

Twilight took a moment to memorize it and ignore how silly it sounded; she sang softly

"Beep bop, buh da, beep bop boop

beep bop, duh da, da, beeeep

beep bop, buh da, beep bop boop

find yourself counting sheep

Beep bop, buh da, beep bop boop

beep bop, duh da, da beeeep

beep bop, buh da, beep bop boop

that means it's time to sleep"

"You didn't really do it right... but thanks anyway" Binary said, now sounding much calmer.

"Anytime"

"Twilight... did you mean it when you said we're friends?"

"Of course"

"You're not just saying that because you think I'm mentally unstable and rejecting me might cause consequences unparalleled by any existing force in the universe"

Twilight's eyes went wide for a moment. Binary had actually guessed the situation perfectly. Or at least how it was at first.

"No, you and I are friends" Twilight said without a hint of doubt.

"That's cool... good night"

Twilight walked back to her bed and before getting in, she looked back at Binary, who was still covered up in the blankets. Twilight smiled as she climbed into bed.

Later in the night, as Twilight lay fast asleep, Binary poked an eye out from under the blankets. Binary stared out a window at the moon partially hid behind a cloud. Binary was aware of the old cliche of looking at the moon and hoping a lost friend was looking at it too, and she knew how absurd it seemed; but it was still a comforting thought.

On Silver Spoon's desk, Chip viewed a collection of holographically projected photos of Binary during several of her experiments.

He stared at a picture of Binary in which she smiled through a face full of soot from her first model of an automatic chimney cleaner "Please be okay" he said. Chip looked to the moon and said as it was completely shrouded by the cloud "I need you to be okay"

"Shut Up!" Silver Spoon yelled before she got up and stumbled over to the window. She then grabbed the curtains and closed them.

Chip's holographic body however still lit the room, resulting in Silver Spoon angrily glaring at him.

Chip looked at Silver Spoon and began to say "Annoying little Bi..." Chip then turned off his holo-body before he finished.

"Hey!" Silver Spoon yelled, knowing fully what Chip was about to say. She then aggressively tapped the device with her hoof.

The door to the filly's room opened, allowing the orange glow from a candle, levitated by Silver Spoon's unicorn step mother to shine in. The step mother stood in the door way with a disgruntled and tired look on her face. She wore a fancy silk nightgown over her faint orange body, and her long red mane was full of loose hairs and frizz which hung over one of her peach coloured eyes; a real rarity given the mares self admiring nature represented by her cuite mark of a golden mirror.

"Be quiet, I have to get my beauty sleep" the mare hissed.

Silver grumbled as she tiredly walked to the door "I know it takes a lot more than sleep to make you look presentable"

The step mother gasped in response and she quickly became angry "You annoying little bi..."

Silver Spoon cut off the gold diggers words as she slammed the door in her face, leaving the filly in total darkness.

"I never have to put up with this kind of stuff when Diamond Tiara's around" Silver Spoon said as she stumbled through the darkness to her bed. Silver Spoon climbed into her bed and just before she closed her eyes she realized she had forgotten something. Silver Spoon had been so wrapped up in her exploits with Diamond Tiara that she had forgotten to find a show and tell project for school the next day. Silver Spoon's worried expression turned to a mischievous smile as she looked over at Chip's disc.


	4. Chapter 4

As Celestia rose the sun over the land of Equestria, the citizens of ponyville slowly awoke to the new day. The dawn's orange glow was a sight to behold for ponyvilles early risers such as Applejack, who along with her brother Big Macintosh were already up and ready for a hard days work of apple bucking and ploughing fields.

Twilight was not one of these early risers. Which was ironic due to her devotion to Princess Celestia. The studious unicorn slept soundly under her beds covers, with one of her legs lazily hanging off the bed.

Downstairs, the light shined into the library and gleamed onto Spike's closed eyes as he lay sleeping at Twilight's desk. The light roused the dragon from his slumber. He opened his eyelids and the bright sun burnt his eyes slightly. Spike covered his eyes with his hand then looked around and quickly saw something that didn't belong. Spike hopped out of his chair and went to examine the strange device on the library's table. Spike took the device in his hand and pushed one of the buttons on it which caused a holographic book to appear. The action startled Spike, he dropped the device to the ground then took a few steps back. Spike rubbed his chin as he tried to deduce what the gadget was or how it had got there. He wondered if Twilight would know what the device was. Spike then ascended the stairs. The early hour suddenly began to take it's tole on the dragon as the the time caught up to him. He was noticeably tired and he walked with his shoulders slouched and his eyes resisting to stay open. Spike ascended the stairs and suddenly stopped as he entered Twilight's loft. He looked and saw that the guest bed was out and appeared as though it had been slept in. Spike quickly perked up a bit at the odd sight.

"Somepony must have been here last night?" Spike thought to himself. Spike looked and saw Twilight sleeping peacefully. He could simply wait for her to wake up but his curiosity quickly got the better of him. Spike walked over to Twilight's bed and lightly poked the leg that stuck out.

The contact caused Twilight to unconsciously pull her leg back under the blankets.

"psst, Twilight" Spike whispered.

"Shh..." A voice said from behind Spike.

Spike froze in response to the strange voice. He then slowly turned his head and saw an unknown white unicorn with a broken horn standing beside him. Spike stared at the unicorn with a surprised expression on his face

"She's trying to sleep" Binary whispered.

"Who are you?" Spike asked.

Binary looked down and awkwardly scratched her foreleg with one of her forehooves, as she tried to find the courage to speak to yet another new face "I'm Binary..." Binary looked up at the dragon and asked "Can I pet you?"

"No" Spike responded "Why are you here?"

"Why am I... Oh yeah, you were asleep last night. Well, I was looking for my friend, Chip, because he got lost, then I got locked out of my house and the whole town started looking for Chip and then Twilight took me in because she assumed I was mentally unstable... could I at least pat your head?"

"You're a barrel of misfortune aren't ya?" Spike asked.

"I don't think so... so, about the petting thing?"

Spike let out an annoyed sigh and replied "Fine"

Binary reached her hoof out and just before touching the dragons head, she pulled her hoof back and asked "You're not gonna bite me are you?"

Spike's crossed his arms and raised an eye brow as he replied "No... ya know why, because I am not a dog"

Binary slowly patted Spike on the head and after a few pats she attempted to scratch behind his ears.

Spike pulled away from Binary "Hey, stop that" he said.

Binary couldn't help but giggle at the flustered baby dragon.

Spike looked back at Twilight and decided not to wake her. He then motioned for Binary to follow as he led her down to the library so they could speak at a normal volume.

"Okay, you said Twilight let you stay here?" Spike asked as the two reached the ground floor.

"Yep, she said we're friends" Binary stopped for a moment to let what she had said sink in "Friends" she said to herself. Binary looked at the ground and moved her hoof in a circle a few times, then barely squeaked out "Do you want to be my friend too?

Spike was quite surprised, he had just met this odd pony, and that mixed with Binary's bizarre mannerisms prompted Spike to reply "Eh... maybe, give it some time"

Binary's face slunk down into a slight frown, although she was much more displeased than she let on.

Spike quickly noticed that he had somehow hurt Binary's feeling and concocted an excuse to make her feel better "It's just that being friends is so super duper special that it can't just happen instantly. The best friendships are the ones you give time to grow and those friendship will last forever"

Binary tilted her head and shot the dragon an inquisitive stare.

Spike nervously smiled at Binary, hoping she wouldn't see past his excuse.

Binary smiled "Okay, that makes sense" Binary said before walking toward the door of the library.

"Wait, where are you going?" Spike asked.

"I need to go find my friend" she replied. "Do you want to help me look?"

Spike hesitated, he knew he should go get Twilight and clarify the situation, but Binary's innocently worried expression drove him to a different reaction "...Okay" Spike replied.

A large smile came to Binary's face before she jumped toward Spike and scooped him up onto her back.

"I'm going to regret this" Spike thought to himself while he clung to Binary's mane as she darted outside, loudly slamming the door behind her.

The noise roused Twilight from her slumber. The princess yawned and looked over to the guest bed. Twilight quickly became concerned as she saw that Binary was nowhere to be seen. Twilight then got out of bed and walked downstairs. She searched for Binary and to her surprise she found that Spike was missing too.

In her mind, Twilight deduced the reason for the disappearances.

"Binary must have gone looking for Chip and taken Spike with him. I hope Spike knows what he's getting into with her" Twilight said to herself.

Twilight thought on what Binary had said before, and her pity for unicorn only grew, as she knew, Binary would never find Chip; after all, how do you find something that doesn't exist. Twilight stopped and ran the idea over in her head again.

"Wait, how do you lose something that was never there?" she asked herself.

Twilight had no time to think about the idea further. She quickly found her saddlebags and filled them with a few apples from the library's pantry, and a few gems that Spike kept as snacks; as she assumed the missing pair would be hungry when she found them.

Twilight walked to the library's exit, but stopped before leaving. She looked at Binary's book scanner which lay on the ground.

"How can somepony who can make that need an imaginary friend" Twilight thought to herself. The very question suddenly prompted an inner response "I guess the magic of friendship has no bounds"

Twilight then exited the library.

A few hours later... on the rode to the schoolhouse.

Silver Spoon walked down the rode at a leisurely pace, even though she was nearly late for school. The grey filly made a point of never seeming too eager to get to school for what appeared to be an attempt at being fashionably late, although the main reason was to attempt to avoid any interaction with anypony besides Diamond Tiara, lest she may be forced to socialize with anypony without the buffer zone that Diamond Tiara created.

The rich filly wore a small purple purse over her shoulder, which carried Chip's disc inside. The A.I waited patiently to be returned to his home, oblivious to Silver Spoon's detour.

Silver Spoon approached the schoolhouse and saw Diamond Tiara already attempting to irritate the blank flanks, never noticing how little it bothered the trio as of recently.

Silver Spoon finally arrived at her destination, just as Diamond Tiara stormed away from the cutie mark crusaders.

The prissy pink filly stomped towards Silver Spoon "Those three are no fun to mess with anymore"

"Maybe that's a sign" said Silver Spoon

"A sign of what?" asked Diamond Tiara.

"That you should stop messing with them, duh"

"Never" Diamond said with a touch of mock anger. Diamond Tiara then looked down at Silver's Spoon purse "Ugh, what did I tell you about wearing purple, it clashes with everything on you"

"Well it's just to carry this thing... wait, my eyes are purple, so how can..."

Diamond Tiara scoffed at her friend "You're eyes are violet, it's completely different from purple"

Silver Spoon rolled her eyes in response.

The school bell then began to ring, signalling the students to come inside for the mornings lesson.

The two walked to the schoolhouse, taking their own sweet time getting there, much to the annoyance of Cheerilee, although she would hardly ever get after any of her students for something so small.

Inside the school house...

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sat in their desks and stared inattentively towards Cheerilee at the front of the classroom.

Cheerilee sat at her desk and greeted her students "Good morning everypony"

"Good Morning Ms. Cheerilee" The stidents responded in unison.

"I hope you've all remembered your show and tell projects for this month"

Diamond Tiara's eyes widened and she quickly scribbled a few words down on a scrap of paper then crumpled it up. She then waited for Cheerilee to turn to the chalk board before she tossed the ball of paper over,Applebloom's head, to Silver Spoon.

The paper struck the side of Silver Spoon's glases and the grey filly glared at Applebloom, under the assumption the farm pony had thrown the projectile.

Applebloom did not turn her attention to the grey pony, instead she simply pointed her hoof over to Diamond Tiara.

Diamond Tiara peeked past Applebloom and mouthed "Read the note"

Silver Spoon un-crumpled the paper and read the message in silence "Do we have a show in tell project?" Silver Spoon looked to Diamond Tiara and nodded, prompting a sigh of relief from the pink pony.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times" Cheerillee said, making use of her excellent peripheral vision. She turned and looked at the duo.

The pair stared back at Cheerilee, both of them attempting (and failing) to look innocent. Cheerilee's annoyed gaze continued and the two fillies shrunk down into their desks.

The students all stared at Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. All of them finding it incredibly amusing to see the two squirm, especially since it was Ms. Cheerilee that was making it happen.

"If you two are so eager to talk to somepony then you can be the first to present your show and tell projects" Cheerilee said, her voice sounded a bit more stern than usual.

The two fillies smiled and nodded, eager to get back on the teachers good side, or at least off her radar. The two walked to the front of the class. Silver spoon carried her purse with her.

Cheerilee was pleasantly surprised that they had not needed to come up with some excuse as to why they didn't have a project.

"One at a time" Cheerilee said, noticeably having slipped out of her rarely seen strict side.

"Well actually..."Silver Spoon began to say.

The teachers expression slightly sunk as she thought to herself "Here it comes"

Diamond Tiara then interrupted whatever Silver Spoon was about so say "Our project is so spectacular that it'll take both of us to present it" she wrapped one of her front legs around her friend and gave her an exaggeratedly friendly hug.

Cheerilee's expression brightened "Alright, go ahead"

Diamond Tiara then took advantage of her close proximity to her friend to ask "What do you have anyway?" she whispered.

"That thing we took from the blank flanks" Silver Spoon quietly replied.

"What!" Diamond Tiara quietly shrieked, as she pulled back from the grey filly. The pink pony then looked to see the class staring at them and stifling laughter.

The class had been waiting for a chance to enjoy the repercussions of the duo's laziness for quite some time, the only regret was that nopony had a camera.

Silver Spoon placed her purse on the ground and pulled out the small disc, then held it up for everypony to see.

The reveal resulted in more of a, "Huh?" reaction, rather than oohs or awes.

"That's very interesting... what is it?" Cheerilee asked.

The cutie mark crusaders instantly recognized the device, and wanted to tell Cheerilee about how the two had taken it from them, but that would simply bring more trouble.

Diamond Tiara puffed her chest out and proudly began to say "It's a..." The filly's paused although she still held her prideful pose. She then blurted out "a thing"

The entire class burst out into laughter. Silver Spoon groaned, although she couldn't be heard due to the laughing.

Cheerilee raised her voice, although not in an angry way, and said "Everypony calm down. Just because Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon don't have a name for their project does not mean it deserves to be mocked" Cheerilee looked at the two and asked "You do know what it is, right?"

"Of course we do" Diamond Tiara said "Silver Spoon, why don't you tell them all about it"

Silver Spoon let out a nervous chuckle, she knew if she actually told anypony what it was they would most likely just laugh again. The grey filly quickly concocted a story "It's an antique plate from my Grandmare"

"Ooh, how interesting, please continue" Cheerilee said.

"Uh... that's all I have to say" Silver Spoon replied.

Cheerilee hid her disappointment behind an encouraging smile "A for effort anyways" she said before marking the two down for a C+ "Would you like to let the class take a look at your... interestingly designed plate"

If the device actually was an antique, Silver Spoon would have said that the class could keep their grubby hooves off it, but since that wasn't the case, she simply replied "Sure"

Silver Spoon gave the (quote)plate(unquote) to Twist, who examined it for a few moments before she passed it to the pony sitting behind her. The device circulated through the three rows as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon watched their classmates who were all clueless as to what it truly was.

The device eventually reached Dinky Doo. The unicorn filly attempted to lift the device into the air with her magic. Through a good deal of effort the device became engulfed in a yellow energy and lifted into the air. Dinky smiled, pleased with her levitation, not noticing that she had the device upside down.

The magical energy inadvertently forced Chip out of his sleep mode. Chip's holographic body appeared from the disc. The sight of Chip startled Dinky. She let out a small yelp before she threw the device away. Chip's disc flew through the air and impacted Cheerilee's desk, the damage caused Chip's body to spark red.

Chip quickly examined the room and a realization dawned onhim; he was not home, he was not with Binary. For the first time in his life he had been lied to... and it hurt.

"What in the world!" Cheerilee exclaimed as she looked over her desk at Chip. "Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara what is the meaning of this?"

Silver Spoon quickly made a lame excuse "Oh, I must have brought that by accident, it's a"

"Liar!" Chip yelled, interrupting Silver Spoon.

Everypony in the classroom looked at the now glowing red Chip. Silver Spoon quickly picked up Chip's disc and placed him on Cheerilee's desk.

"Silver Spoon, what is that thing?" Cheerilee asked.

"It's my project" Silver Spoon answered.

Chip glared at the grey filly and yelled "P-Project!? I am not you're project!

"Hey, you can't talk to her like that!" Diamond Tiara said in defence of her friend.

"Shut Up!" Chip roared at Diamond Tiara, his words dripped with frustration.

The entire class grew more uneasy as Chip's voice grew louder and angrier.

"Calm down" Silver Spoon pleaded.

"No! You said we were going home, I need to go home, she needs me!" Chip yelled. His mind relied on things adding up and making sense, he had no patience, nor methods to cope with lies, the very idea of somepony saying something which was then contradicted made the entirety of his being hurt, and the more he hurt the faster he thought, and the faster he thought, the more he overheated, and the more he overheated the less logical he became.

Chip's body fizzed and crackled, he then lifted his front legs into the air and with a mighty shock wave of sound he stamped his hooves to the ground and screamed "You lied to me!"

The massive amount of sound blew out every window in the schoolhouse and sent everypony except Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, and Cheerilee running in fear. Some of the fillies screamed "Monster!" as they scrambled out. The red glow of Chip's body began to illuminate the room and enveloped the three.

The ears of the remaining ponies rang from the sound.

"I didn't lie to you" Silver Spoon cried as she cowered in fear.

Another lie sent a painful zap through Chip's body "Say it!" he screamed.

Cheerilee stepped in front of the the two fillies to defend them.

"I was going to take you home after school" Silver Spoon said.

Chip needed truth, not excuses "Say you lied!" He roared.

"I didn't"

"Admit it!"

"Please stop yelling" Silver Spoon quietly protested.

Chip's voice suddenly became more low pitched and distorted and he yelled "No! I need to hear you say it!"

"Please stop!" she said as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Say it!"

Silver Spoon began to cry and she repentantly wailed "Alright! I lied to you, I should have taken you straight home, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

And with that the pieces in Chip's mind began to fit back together, and as it did his body turned back to it's normal blue colour. Chip however seemed mentally exhausted from the ordeal, he hung his head low and flinched when his body sparked.

Cheerilee motioned for the two to leave. Diamond Tiara grabbed the sobbing Silver Spoon's hoof and led her outside. Diamond Tiara whispered to her friend that she would treat her to a milkshake to help make things better.

Cheerilee waited for the two to leave and was about to follow them out but stopped as she saw, Chip glance up at her then quickly looked away. The teacher couldn't help but recognize that look, a look she had gotten from many of her students when they had a problem but couldn't bring themselves to ask for help.

"...Are you okay?" Cheerilee asked hesitantly.

Chip looked up at the teacher and answered, his voice somehow sounding depressed despite it's monotone nature. "No"

Cheerilee walked closer Chip and knelt down to be at eye level with him "Would you like to talk about it?"

Chip looked at the trusting face "...maybe"

Meanwhile, Binary walked through the town while Spike rode on her, still looking for any trace of Chip.

Spike asked as he walked alongside Binary "So he's like, a small pony standing on a plate?"

"Well it's not actually a plate it's his storage disc, it just looks like a plate"

"So does he see out of the disc or out of his eyes"

"He doesn't really have eyes, his camera's are positioned in a way that allows him to see through where his eyes would be on his body"

"So he's like a magic guardian?"

"No, I made him"

"So he's like an imaginary friend"

"He was a..."

Binary words were then cut off by the voice of Twilight Sparkle, whom trotted towards the two.

"I've been looking for you two all morning" She said as she caught up to the pair.

Spike hopped down from Binary's back and explained "Sorry Twilight, we were just out looking for Binary's friend, and you were sleeping so, you know, let sleeping pony's lie"

Twilight frowned a bit at the mentioning of the imaginary friend "Maybe you two should take break, I brought some food for everypony... and everydragon"

"Gee wilickers, snack time!" Binary said excitedly.

Twilight levitated an apple and an emerald out of her bag and gave them to their appropriate connoisseurs.

Spike happily nibbled away at the emerald, as Binary stared at the apple in awe. It was so red and full of life, just like every she hadn't interacted with in years, it had a certain welcoming feel to it.

"Ooh, idea" Binary said as she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out what appeared to be an apple peeler on a tripod. Binary sat the device on the ground and dropped the apple onto it. The device beeped as it detected the apple and the blade began to slash around sporadically cutting through the apple and leaving nothing but mush.

Binary frowned and let out a disappointed "Aww..."

"What was that supposed to do?" Spike asked.

Binary poked the mush with her hoof and replied "It was supposed to take the skin off... but obviously didn't work"

"Don't worry, I have more apples" Twilight said.

Binary perked up as she saw another apple floating towards her. She took it and once again admired it's beautiful redness. She took a small bite out of it, hoping to savour the treat but as soon as the juicy apple taste touched her tongue, she immediately devoured the rest in a singe bite. The long forgotten taste of good fresh fruit lightly stung Binary's taste buds. Binary's eyes turned up as she chewed.

Twilight and Spike couldn't help but stare at the odd scene.

Spike whispered to Twilight "Twilight, what's up with this unicorn?"

"She's hasn't interacted with anypony for years and I think it took a toll on her psyche" Twilight quietly explained.

"But what about her friend?" Spike asked.

"She said he was an imaginary friend" Twilight replied.

"What!?" Spike asked, a little louder than he should have.

"Don't worry, I'm going to try something" said Twilight.

Binary swallowed the apple and thrust a hoof up into the air "Now back to the search" she said.

"I think we could find Chip faster if we split up" Twilight suggested.

"I... guess that's a good idea" Binary replied.

Twilight then walked far enough away that she was out of Binary's line of sight. Then after a few moments, she returned with a forced smile on her face.

"Hey would ya look who I found" Twilight said, forcing enthusiasm.

"Is it Chip, it's Chip isn't it?" Binary asked.

"You bet your hooves" Twilight said before she stepped to the side as though somepony was behind her "Here he is"

Binary stared at the nothingness for a moment, her expression was completely blank. Binary's expression sunk into a sad frown, then twisted into a hurt grimace "Are you... mocking me?" Binary asked, as she restrained her hurt feelings.

Twilight then attempted to explain herself "No, it's just that..."

"If you don't want to help that's fine, but you didn't have to go and do something mean like that" Binary was about to storm away from the two when a trio of filly's suddenly ran past her, talking about a pony shaped monster on a plate. Binary looked in the direction they had came from. "Chip" she said before she darted off down the rode.

"Why did you do that?" Spike asked Twilight.

"She's physically looking for something that's in her head, what am I supposed to do, just let her keep looking for a friend that's not there" Twilight looked to where Binary had gone "Come on, we better follow her"

Spike hopped up onto Twilight's back and the two pursued Binary.

Meanwhile back in the schoolhouse...

Chip sat on Cheerilee's desk with a book in front of him as, Cheerilee gave the A.I some pointers on how to control a future outburst.

"And what are we going to do the next time we get mad?" Cheerilee asked.

"Think happy thoughts, or go to a happy place, or count to ten" The A.I replied.

"Very good. Would you like another book?" Cheerliee asked.

"Please, thank you" Chip responded politely.

Cheerliee opened a drawer on her desk and took out a book from a small collection she kept to read to her students in case a lesson ran short and she needed some filler before they were dismissed. She then placed the book in front of Chip.

Chip observed the cover and read aloud "Notable ponies in Equestrian history"

Large green eyes appeared on Chips face, from which several strands of light beamed out. The lights scanned the book, and the information was instantly downloaded into Chip's mind.

Cheerilee had nearly jumped out of her skin the first time Chip used this scanning procedure. Still a little off put by the eyes, she looked away as Chip scanned the book, although she disguised this by pretending to look out one of the now broken windows.

The green beams and eyes faded away "Interesting" Chip said as he looked over the data he had collected.

Cheerilee looked back at Chip, and said "I wish my students could look at a history book and say that"

"So much history that I was never aware of until now"

"Well that's what you can learn when you look into books"

"Golden Alloy" Chip said.

"Who?" The mare asked.

"Page 57, a unicorn who designed the armour for the royal guards"

Cheerilee opened the book and flipped to the aforementioned page "Hmm... you're right, here's a portrait of her" Cheerilee then turned the book and showed Chip the image.

In the image, the unicorn could be seen being saluted by several guards, who were all wearing early versions of the armour that would eventually become standard issue for all of the royal guards. The unicorn however wore a full body set of gold plated armour which was seemingly designed to be near impenetrable, with only her red mane and tail visible.

"She looks... like a machine" Chip said as he examined the scene.

"I suppose she does. Unfortunately it says that the prolonged usage of the heavy armour damaged her muscles and spine to such an extent that she needed to be hospitalized, poor thing"

Chip looked at the image intently, specifically the helmet. The pivotal piece of the armour had an intimidating sleekness to it and did not simply conform to the wearers face, which gave it a somewhat bestial quality that seemed as though it would fit better as the head of some monster rather than on a pony, and the eyes holes had red glass over them to hide any emotion the wearer may show.

The two then heard the sound of somepony pounding on the school house door.

Cheerilee stood from her desk, and said as she walked towards the door "It's not locked"

The voice of Binary then embarrassingly squeaked out "Oh" Binary pushed the door open a crack and peaked inside. At the sight of Chip on the desk, Binary's face lit up into a near deranged looking smile, and she squealed in excitement before she ran down the rows of desks, nearly crashing into Cheerilee.

Binary stood on her hind legs and picked up Chip with her front legs, then hugged him, although Chip had no means to hug back.

"I assume this is Binary" Cheerilee said to the smothered A.I.

"Affirmative" Chip replied, barely able to hear the teachers question through Binary's hug.

Binary then looked toward the purple mare.

Binary's face suddenly turned very serious "Are you the one who took Chip from me?"

"Oh heavens no, I think it was..." Cheerilee took note of just how upset the unicorn looked. Binary appeared as though she was ready to pounce on somepony "I'm not sure who brought him in"

Luckily the lie was not heard by Chip, who still remained buried in Binary's hug.

Binary couldn't tell that she had been lied to. "Uh-huh, yeah whatever, I don't have time for revenge anyway" she said. Binary then directed her attention back to Chip "Chip, look at you, you look like you've been overheating, and your little legs have fallen off. What happened to you?" she asked.

Chip thought back to how he had acted before and the idea of being replaced. He quickly concocted an excuse that was not necessarily a lie, but a withholding of information "It's possibly just from exposure to the elements" Chip looked into the Binary's tired red eyes and asked "Are you okay?"

"Pfft, of course I am... other than some head trauma-ama-ama-ama-ama" Binary continued to repeat that part of the sentence on a never ending loop.

Chip looked to Cheerilee "Could you give her a slight slap in the back of head" He requested.

"Is that safe?" Cheerilee asked.

"It can't damage her anymore than she is right now... literally"

Cheerilee wasn't sure if what Chip said was meant to be a joke, or if he was serious, but either way she complied and struck Binary in the back of her head, effectively knocking her out of her stupor.

Binary rubbed the back of her head "Thanks" she said. "Ready for a pocket ride, Chip?" Binary asked her companion.

"When is one not ready for a pocket ride?" Chip replied, his voice made it impossible to tell if he was being sarcastic or sincere.

Chip then turned off his holographic form. Binary then placed it in one of her many pockets. "Thanks for taking care of him" Binary said to the teacher.

"You're welcome, it was actually quite interesting. Aside from the bumpy first impression"

"I don't know what you mean by that so I choose to ignore it" Binary said, blissfully unaware of the hint of Chip's actions.

Cheerilee raised an eye brow in response to the odd comment, as Binary walked toward the door. Binary pushed the door open and started off down the dirt rode back to ponyville.

She held her head up high and smiled, as she happily trotted down the rode. Things were starting to go back to normal and she couldn't be happier... until she saw Twilight and Spike approaching from a little ways further down the rode.

Binary frowned, she was not too keen on interacting with Twilight again. Binary had not yet realized the misunderstanding at all. To Binary, Twilight had simply made fun of her problem; her seven year long solitude with Chip, and her dependance on him, left Binary unable to comprehend anypony not understanding the concept of her companion. An idea then came to Binary's mind and her expression crept up into a sly grin.

"Binary" Twilight called, after which she increased her walking pace, quickly decreasing the distance between herself and Binary.

Binary stopped and narrowed her eyes "Hello... Ms. Annoying ...pants..." Binary said to Twilight in a failed attempt to insult her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just thought if I could make you think you found Chip then it might make you feel better"

"Well that was a stupid idea" Binary said as she thrust her nose in the air in an attempt to seem superior.

Twilight's brow furrowed a bit. The alicorn knew she had made a mistake, but she was only trying to help and certainly didn't deserve to be insulted (especially not by some nutso unicorn). Twilight emitted a barely audible groan, then kicked some dirt to the side.

Spike couldn't help but snicker at the comment, himself agreeing that Twilight acted a bit rashly.

Binary quickly lost her look of superiority, then looked at the ground and sighed "But thanks for caring" she said, her face slowly warmed back up into a smile.

Twilight smiled in response "So, I suppose you want to go try to find, Chip?" Twilight asked.

Binary closed her eyes, puffed out her chest slightly and proudly said "Nope, I found him"

"But... he's a... I mean... why couldn't you" Twilight couldn't help but be frustrated "He's an imaginary friend, how did you find him!?"

Binary pointed back to the school "He was in the school house"

Twilight ground her teeth together as her frustration grew, it was getting harder to tell if Binary was smart, insane, or just plain stupid.

Binary let out an exaggerated yawn, and said "I don't know about you but I got zero sleep last night, so I think I'm gonna head on home, because I'd rather pass out there than on the rode" Binary then walked by Twilight and Spike and after she walked a few feet away, Binary stopped, turned and asked "But I suppose I could find some energy, if you still wanted to see my inventions?"

Twilight's expression lightened a bit. The mention of Binary's gadgets had peeked Twilight's interest, she had never seen anything quite like them, and she would be disappointed if she didn't get a chance to see more.

Spike had not heard or seen anything about these inventions and was instantly curious.

"I guess so" Twilight said, her slightly annoyed tone made it hard for any positivity to come out of the words.

Binary smiled the same sly smile from before "Good, Chip will be soooo amped up"

Twilight and Spike glanced at each other and slightly shrugged their shoulders, both unsure of what Binary meant.

Binary noticed the glances and explained before either of them could ask "And by that I mean excited"

Twilight and Spike pretended they knew what she meant all along.

Binary sighed, her interest in the two was fading fast and would barely last long enough for her to play her little trick.

The three then headed back to Binary's home which was still parked in the centre of town. Neither of the three said anything to each other along the way, which caused the trek to feel very long and awkward at times, as Binary would occasionally look at the two, then chuckle quietly.

By the time they had got back to Binary's house, Twilight and Spike's willingness to follow Binary had almost completely faded.

Binary walked up onto her front porch, grabbed the door knob and attempted to turn it. Binary giggled; it was time for her trick.

Binary stifled more laughter "Oh silly me, I forgot that, Chip locked my house"

Twilight let out a small sigh, she was quite sick of hearing about, Chip.

Binary reached into one of her vest pockets, then pulled out Chip's disc and showed it to Twilight and Spike.

"Go ahead, ask what it is" Binary insisted.

Twilight began to answer, as Binary pushed a button on the disc. The holographic body of Chip appeared, which caused Twilight's eyes to widen in shock.

Binary observed Twilight and Spike's reaction and was a bit disappointed that neither of them freaked out.

Spike approached Chip and the two assistants quickly examined each other, then both asked Binary in unison "What is that thing?"

Binary replied to Spike's question "This is Chip"

Twilight raised an eye brow "But didn't you say, Chip was an imaginary friend?" she asked.

"Yeah, and then I said, I made him real... Oh, now I get it, you just thought I was crazy. That makes so much more sense than what I was thinking before"

Twilight chose not question what Binary had thought about her "So is it... alive?" she asked

"You may direct such questions to me, thank you" said Chip.

"He seems pretty alive" said Spike.

"Binary, who are these beings?" Chip asked his creator.

"Well that's Twilight Sparkle, she's a princess and that's Spike, Twilight's pet dragon"

Spike crossed his arms and rolled his eyes in response to the unintentionally insulting description.

"They're my frie..." Binary paused for a moment, then asked "We're still friends, right?"

Twilight simply stared at Chip, trying her best to comprehend how Binary had created an entirely independent entity.

Twilight was only shaken out of her stare by Chip, who said to the alicorn in a stern tone "She asked you a question"

Twilight looked back at Binary, who was currently staring at Twilight with the best sad guilt trip face she could muster. Twilight could admit to herself that she had rushed into a friendship, but she couldn't say that the whole thing hadn't been any crazier than anything her friends had ever put her through.

"Of course we are" said Twilight.

Spike also nodded in response.

Binary's faced lifted up to a smile. She turned Chip's disc to face herself and asked her companion "Chip, do you want to be friends with Twilight and Spike?"

"No" Chip replied flatly and without hesitation. "May we please go inside"

"But, I was going to show them some of my inventions" Binary said.

Chip glanced over at Twilight and Spike for a moment, then groaned as he turned back to face Binary.

Spike nudged Twilight's side with his elbow and whispered to her "I don't think he likes us"

Chip was about to insist that the pair leave and allow Binary to rest, but before he did, he paused and took notice of Binary's happy expression. He had not seen Binary smile like that in years, although he couldn't understand why

Chip sighed "Whatever you think is best" he mumbled out.

"Great" Binary said, as she turned and tapped Chip's disc on the door knob. A blue spark appeared as the disc and door knob touched, showing that Chip had transferred back into the house. Several locks could be heard clicking open as Chip called off the lock down.

Binary then opened the door and led Twilight and Spike inside.

The pony's hooves, and the claws on Spike's feet, clicked on the metal floor.

Binary then spun around to face her guests, and proudly said "Welcome to our humble abode" Binary's voice echoed through the metallic house.

Twilight and Spike looked around and took their time to soak in the bizarre look of the chrome house. From where they were they could see a metal stair case a small ways in front of them, as well as a living area to the right the through an arch shaped door hole in the wall. The only living room was the only place they could see that wasn't completely covered in metal. The room contained a red rug, some old wood lounge chairs and stools with red cushions on them, and a wooden coffee table in front of a fireplace, over which hung a rolled up projector screen.

"It sure is... shiny" said Spike.

"That's cuz it's self cleaning" Binary said, just before a pair of metal arms with claws

holding wash cloths appeared from hidden panels on the floor and quickly scrubbed where the three had entered. Once finished, they quickly retracted back into the floor.

"Where did Chip go?" Twilight asked as she looked around for the A.I.

Chip's voice then replied through speakers in the walls, which made his voice sound more metallic and muffled "I'm all around you"

A small blue light then zipped around on the floor and stopped beside Binary. Chip's body then blinked on. Chip presented his body in a larger form than he had before, now standing tall enough to be at eye level with Spike.

Binary looked down at Chip and asked "What do we have that we could show our friends?"

A small checklist of product names with either green or red dots beside then appeared in front of Chip. Green meaning the gadget was operational, and red meaning it was either unsafe or not yet perfected. The A.I quickly looked over the list and compiled a smaller list of appropriate inventions to show.

Binary read the list over Chip's shoulder and quickly darted off up the stairs, to retrieve the devices.

Twilight and Spike waited for Binary to return. They stood in awkward silence while Chip stared at them.

"So..." Twilight looked around to try and find a topic of conversation to fill the silence "Binary created you?" Twilight asked, Chip.

"That is correct" Chip replied.

"So, how did she go about doing that?"

"I do not think you would be able to comprehend the process, but I'll explain it in terms I think you may understand; She needed me, so she made me"

Twilight raised one of her eyebrows and thought to herself "Did he just call me dumb?"

"So basically, she wanted a friend?" Spike asked.

"Incorrect, want and need are two very different subjects" Chip replied.

A loud clattering sound interrupted the pointless back and forth between Chip and the two outsiders. The three looked to see Binary tumbling down the stairs, along with dozens of gadgets, all of varying sizes, shapes and colours.

Binary quickly crashed down to the foot of the stairs and laid there with her face flat on the floor.

Binary stuck a foreleg up in the air, and said "I'm okay" Her voice was humorously muffled by the floor.

It was moments like this that Chip wished he had some way to assist Binary in more than just a logistical sense.

Binary shot back up onto her hooves and gathered up as many of the devices as she could. Although she quickly began to take more than she could handle, as they slipped from her grasp and fell back onto the floor.

Twilight and Spike walked closer to Binary to eliminate the need to move the devices.

Binary then began to give Twilight and Spike as many devices as they could hold, all while trying to explain what they were and what they did. The scene was similar to that of a child showing their parents a new toy and trying to explain why they must have it.

"Binary!" Chip said sternly "One thing at a time"

Binary stopped and stared at Chip for a moment, then took a look at herself. She quickly realized how impolite she was acting.

Spike struggled under the weight of the collectively heavy devices until Twilight levitated them out of Spike's grasp, then placed them on the floor in front of them, in several tidy rows.

"Which one did you want to see first?" Binary asked, doing her best to control her still overflowing excitement.

Twilight, nor Spike had any idea which devices did what. Each device looked different, ranging from wand like devices to simple cubes and even one that resembled horseshoes.

Twilight looked over the devices and eventually picked one at random "How about... that one" Twilight pointed a hoof towards one of the wand like devices.

Binary knelt down and adjusted her glasses as she looked at the device "That's a P.D.W, it's a personal defence wand that shoots intense sonic waves"

"I don't recommend we start with that" Chip said. Chip then looked over the tidy rows of gadgets. Chip's body once again disappeared into the floor and suddenly one of the cube shaped gadgets lights began to blink "Try this one" Chip said through the speakers in the walls.

Twilight's horn began to glow and the device became engulfed in magical energy. As the device was lifted into the air, Chip's light once again flashed to the ground. Twilight placed the device on her hoof. Upon closer inspection Twilight found a small orange button on one of the sides. Twilight pressed the button and the device began to emit several metallic clinking noises. The top of the device suddenly burst open, startling Twilight. The device then began to fold down onto Twilight's hoof, covering the end of it. A sudden surge of fear took hold of as she swung her foreleg around violently.

"What is it doing!?" Spike asked in shock.

Twilight calmed down as the device ceased it's operation. She then looked over the results, the cube had folded down onto her hoof and left a pincer at the end. Twilight moved the end of her hoof around and as she did the pincer moved slightly.

"That's..." Twilight paused a she tried to find a descriptor for the device "interesting"

"Flex the muscle in your wrist" Binary instructed.

Twilight did as instructed, and as she did, the pincer opened and closed. Twilight then knelt down and used the pincer to grab another one of the devices.

"Does it hurt?" Spike asked.

"Pfft" Chip scoffed at the dragon "Of course it doesn't hurt, it's designed to be completely comfortable and feel like a natural extension of the users body"

"It does feel comfortable... or as comfortable as a claw on my hoof can feel" said Twilight.

"And that's just one of my gadgets, and I have like a biji-zillion-quintillion more" Binary said over enthusiastically.

"That's not a word" said Twilight.

Chip agreed and added "It's also not a true statement, we have exactly 169 fully operational devices as well as an additional 114 still in their test phase"

"What do you plan to do with all this stuff?" Spike asked as he picked up one the wand like devices.

"I don't recco..." Chip began to say before being cut off by Binary.

"Well the main plan is to totally level the playing field between the different species of ponies. Unicorns can levitate, Bam, levitation wand!" Binary grabbed a levitation wand and proudly held it up "Now Earth ponies and Pegasi can levitate. Pegasi can fly. Bazow! Rocket boots for everypony!" Binary grabbed a pair of boot like gadgets off the ground and held them up with her other fore leg. With no support for the front of her body, Binary fell to the floor. "And also, maybe make a billion bits in the process so I can make even more stuff" Binary concluded, her voice muffled from her face being pressed against the floor... again

Spike shook the device around a little as he tried to figure out what it did.

With Binary's rant over Chip continued what he had tried to say before "Please don't touch that"

"Why?" Spike asked just as he found a button on the device and pushed it.

The end of the device glowed red and suddenly a stream of fire burst from the end, luckily not igniting anything... except the end of Binary's tail.

Twilight's jaw dropped in response to the near death of Binary.

Spike dropped the device to the ground "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!"

"Didn't mean to do what?" Binary asked as she stood herself up. Binary eyes suddenly went wide "Chip, am I on fire?" she asked her companion.

"Don't worry, I have it under control" Chip said as he disappeared into the ground. A piece of ceiling panelling slid away, which allowed a mechanical arm carrying a fire extinguisher to descend. The device turned, but it's joint couldn't quite turn to face Binary.

"If you would, please move a little to the left" Chip requested.

Binary did as instructed. The extinguisher then sprayed her tail with foam that was specially designed to smother fires.

Binary turned to look at her now partially charred tail. She swished her what remained of her tail around, flinging the little bits of foam that remained away.

"I had just grown that back to the way I liked it too" she mumbled to herself.

Spike held his hands behind his back and an embarrassed smile came to his face, as he attempted to look innocent.

Binary sighed "I remember the first time I lit something on fire... I was bald for so long after that" Binary said, as she stared off into space while she thought about all of the times she had nearly burnt herself to a crisp.

"Yes, that was the day we discovered that an air conditioner hat was not a good idea" said Chip.

"Pfft, it would have had so many applications, you just gave up on it because the prototype blew up on my head"

"To be honest, that does sound like a good reason to stop working on something" Twilight interjected.

"Thank you" The A.I responded.

"But the main thing is simply to make not just Equestria, but the entire planet better... but since I messed up showing everypony my inventions... I don't know if I have the courage to face them again"

Binary looked down at the ground with a slight frown on her face, and poked one of her gadgets.

Twilight and Spike exchanged sympathetic glances, both of them wished they could say something reassuring, but nothing came to mind.

Chip then looked at Binary "It will be alright, Binary, we can just go back to the hill and you won't need to worry about it anymore"

Binary looked at Chip, and a warm smile came to her face. Binary then turned her attention back to Twilight and Spike.

"Now, which one do you want see next?" Binary asked.

2 hours later...

The group had moved their test area into the living room. Binary and Twilight sat on a red, two pony couch. Twilight and Spike had nearly looked over all of the inventions, leaving only some of the larger and dangerous looking ones untouched.

Twilight and Binary were currently testing a pair of devices called, smart trays, one of Binary's proudest achievements; although she seemed to say that about all of her inventions.

The trays hung from the users neck via a metal strap. Attached to the strap was a metal tray with a hinge on the far side from the user, which allowed the top panel of the tray to flip up, revealing a screen. Just above the screen, embedded into the device was an electronic eye which tracked the users eyes, allowing them to select things by blinking, or type messages without the user needing to use their hooves. Unfortunately the trays did not currently allow for much content due to the need for others to contribute content. The only feature, Binary could properly show was the electronic message function which allowed two users to instantly send messages to each other.

Meanwhile, sitting on a short cushioned stool, Spike was currently suggesting to Chip, a few ideas for some dragon exclusive gadgets. Unbeknownst to the dragon, Chip was secretly not listening to him, instead reading his lips while his audio receptors listened in on the conversation between Binary and Twilight.

"This messaging reminds me a lot of, Princess Celestia and I sending letters to each other through Spike"

Binary didn't respond to the comment. Her eyes were glued to the screen in front of her, and they darted around as she typed a message.

"Send" Binary said to the smart tray.

A message then appeared on Twilight's screen.

Twilight read the message aloud "You use your friend as magical postal service?" Twilight looked past her screen, and said "It's not as bad as it sounds. Except that one time, Celestia sent me all my letters back and... maybe that's a story best left untold"

Binary once again didn't respond, her attention was placed fully on the trays screen.

Twilight sighed and looked back at her own screen. Twilight then began to move her eyes about to write a reply, the process taking much more time for Twilight than it had for Binary.

Twilight hesitated slightly before she said "Send" The idea of talking to an inanimate object, understandably made Twilight feel a little awkward.

Binary received the message and almost immediately began writing a reply.

Twilight sighed and closed her smart tray, then levitated it off of herself. Twilight then placed her hoof on Binary's tray and pushed it shut.

Binary looked up and blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted back from looking at the screen.

"That was a little rude" said Binary.

Twilight rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure she was not the one being rude "Sorry, it just seems silly to send messages back and forth when we're right next to each other"

"Well all of the other stuff is user generated, and I have no users" Binary said as she began to open her tray.

Twilight placed a hoof on the tray and closed it again. She preferred to speak with words rather than text.

"I see you've grown tired of the smart trays" Binary said as she took her tray off and and placed it on the seat beside her. "Well that's pretty much it. You've seen most of my life's work... so what do ya think?" Binary asked.

"It's all quite interesting, but I just don't understand how you've managed to do all this by yourself"

"Oh, I'm not alone, I've got Chip" Binary looked past Twilight and quickly waved at Chip before turning her attention back to Twilight.

Twilight turned her head to look at Chip for a moment. "Yeah, about Chip, is he technically... alive?"

"Well... I guess, he's as alive as he needs to be" Binary replied.

Chip heard the statement and thought to himself as he repeatedly scanned the words for meaning "Alive as I need to be... what does she mean by that?" Chip thought to himself.

"Did you want to see some more?" Binary asked, Twilight.

"Hmm... maybe another time" Twilight replied.

"I don't really think theirs going to be another time"

"What do you mean by that?" Twilight asked.

Binary looked down at the ground, her cheery nature seemed to have momentarily left her. "I... don't think I was ready to come here yet. I think I need more time to prepare"

Still listening, Chip was pleased that Binary had taken her advice, yet he couldn't understand why Binary looked upset about it.

Once again the feeling of pity that Twilight had felt before, returned to her. She felt as though she needed to say something to reassure Binary. But Twilight didn't feel like it was her place to give advice, after all she had only known Binary for a day. In truth, the whole ordeal was more than anypony else would probably have done for such a new acquittance.

After a few moments of thinking, Twilight decided on her next words "Whatever you think is best"

Only the sound of Spike's rambling suggestions broke the odd silence between the two.

"Well, I suppose we should get out of your hair" said Twilight.

"Okay" Binary replied, her voice already seemed to be returning to it's almost annoyingly peppy tone.

"Come on Spike, I think it's about time we let Binary and Chip rest" Twilight said as she stepped off the couch.

Spike hopped off of the stool "So you'll think about a dragon scale polisher, right?" Spike asked Chip.

Chip did not reply, instead he zipped over to the door and eagerly awaited for the two to leave, so he could finally tend to, Binary.

Twilight, Spike, and Binary walked to the door. The small dragon opened the door and walked out of the house, then waited on the porch for Twilight.

Twilight followed Spike out the door, as did Binary. Chip of course could not follow the three outside, and instead stayed inside as the door closed in front of him.

Just outside...

The afternoon sun burned bright in the sky and warm light lit the town.

Twilight and Spike stepped down from the porch and turned to say their goodbyes.

"It's been really interesting" Spike said to Binary.

"Just, interesting?" Binary asked.

"Well I'm not going to say it was great, it was actually a little awkward at times"

Twilight didn't feel the need to correct Spike. It honestly hadn't been the most enjoyable day ever but it was exactly how Spike had described it: it was interesting.

"Well to be honest, I think the awkward came from you guys" Binary said to the two.

"Whatever you think" Spike replied.

Binary then turned her attention toward Twilight, expecting some parting words.

Twilight thought back to what Binary had said about leaving ponyville the next day. Binary's inventions were a little odd and somewhat unnecessary, but it was obvious that a lot of love had gone into them. It would be a shame to just let Binary waste her potential by locking herself away again.

"Are you sure you want to leave so soon?" Twilight asked.

"It's not that I want to... I just need to be ready"

"I'm sorry Binary, but that's silly" Twilight said "If you want to get ready to be apart of the world, how does shutting yourself out help?"

Binary stood still as she thought about what Twilight had just said to her. Binary looked down at the ground. Her eyes moving around slightly, indicating deep thought going on in her head.

Spike then whispered to Twilight "I think you broke her"

Twilight rolled her eyes in response to Spike's comment.

"Goodbye Binary" Twilight said.

Binary shook her head slightly, to break herself out of her thought process. She smiled and waved at the two... although they hadn't left yet. "Bye" she yelled as she continued to wave.

Twilight and Spike exchanged quick, awkward glances before they departed back for the library.

Binary kept smiling and waving until the two were far out of sight. All the while still thinking about what Twilight had said.

Binary reached into one of her pockets and pulled out one of her levitation wands. She simply stared at it as she stood there. She had waited so long to show her inventions to the world, and it had felt so good to show them to somepony.

Binary paused as she asked herself "What was the difference between showing Twilight and showing everypony else?"

An idea suddenly came to Binary's mind. She smiled and turned around to enter her house.

Binary opened the door and excitedly jumped toward, Chip, then knelt down to be at level with her assistant.

"Are we excited about something?" Chip asked.

"Kind of... incredibly!... or maybe just a little, I don't care. Chip, what was the difference between me trying to show my inventions before, as apposed to me showing them to Twilight and Spike?

"Small group interaction" Chip replied.

Binary hopped up into the air and cheered "Exactly! I was overwhelmed by all the ponies out their that I couldn't do dinkily-diddle-squat. But if I showed my inventions to one pony at a time, then I could get over my fears and sell some of my gadgets all at the same time"

"No" Chip said flatly.

"Wha... What do you mean, no?" Binary asked.

"You have been through an extremely traumatic experience and I would prefer it if you slowed your momentum down and let me inspect your condition"

"Chip, I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me"

"I am designed to worry about your happiness, in the present and in the future. I can tell far faster than you can if something is going to hurt you and I only see pursuing this endeavour without proper preparation resulting in further harm to you"

Binary turned away from Chip and sighed as she walked to the stairs. She then paused at the foot of the staircase "Chip... you don't understand. I can't keep being scared" Binary then turned back to face, Chip. "Today, I realized just how much I've been missing. I barely recognized an apple when it was given to me... Being out there with all of them, it felt nice... better than nice, it felt like I was getting back into the world, and it felt so good, and warm, and welcoming..." Binary paused as if for dramatic effect "I won't shut myself in again" Binary concluded.

Her last words carried a gravitas unlike anything Chip had heard Binary say before.

Chip stood in silence. He simply stared at Binary. Nothing that she had said seemed to add up. Feelings, warmth... apples; Chip had an understanding of these things but he simply couldn't acknowledge how they could have made Binary think so irrationally.

Binary then walked back towards Chip and knelt down to be at eye level with him. "Chip, if we're going to make the world a better place, then we need to be a part of it... no more hiding"

Chip looked at the ground "Whatever you think is best" He replied.

Binary smiled "Good, we start tomorrow" she said.

Chip stared into Binary's eyes and said "But, please, just one day. I need to make sure you are okay"

"Okay. But after tomorrow, we're getting ourselves out there" Binary said before she turned and ascended the stairs, leaving Chip in silence.

Chip turned and looked at the door. Chip had already been out there... and he didn't like it.

His body fizzed and he then began to count "1, 2, 3, 4..."


	5. Chapter 5

Two days later...

The afternoon sky was filled with gloomy grey clouds due to a scheduled rain fall over ponyville.

The task of producing such weather was one that no pegasi really enjoyed, especially Rainbow Dash. Positioning rain clouds was a slow and meticulous job, as opposed to simply clearing them away, not to mention the occasional grumblings from the unicorns and earth pony's on the ground.

The speedy Pegasus wasn't the only one who found the rain dampening her mood. For filly's like the cutie mark crusaders, the rain meant a day shut inside when they could be out crusading. Much to the dismay of Rarity whom found herself tasked with finding ways to entertain her energetic sister.

However the day was an opportunity for the book worm, Princess Twilight Sparkle, who as one would assume, reading some of the new books, Princess Celestia had sent her upon her ascension to princess-hood.

But as the intention of a day of rain being to rejuvenate the earth, it also allowed many pony's an excuse to laze around and recharge their batteries; something, Chip wished Binary would be willing to do.

The inventive unicorn busily prepared for her first attempt at selling her inventions with her new approach. Binary had spent most of the previous day sleeping off the stress of the days before. She occupied the rest of her time with the simple, yet long overlooked task of adding a levitation device to Chip's software, allowing him to manipulate objects by himself, and after a few minor bugs, such as Chip sub-consciously moving objects; he quickly controlled the behaviour after applying an internal system patch.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of Chip's update would need to be tested at a later time, as Binary stressed over deciding which inventions to take with her. She had deduced that the now muddy rode would surely damage her homes treads if she attempted to move it to any potential customers. Thus Binary decided this was the perfect time to test her self propelled horseless cart. But the idea of weighing in which inventions she thought were more deserving of their chance to shine was near impossible, aside from a few special cases such as her levitation wand.

But one invention had to stay, or rather chose not to go. For the first time in his seven year life as Binary's companion, Chip refused to aid Binary.

Binary thought nothing of it. According to her understanding of friendship, it was absolutely normal for a friend to occasionally refuse an activity.

The same could not be said for Chip. The idea of not being there to assist Binary bore a heavy weight on his electronic mind, which was only escalated by his rapid thought processing. A minute of thinking felt like hours to Chip... but no matter how hard he thought he couldn't come up with an answer to the question: Why? Why would he not help Binary, did he hate the outside world, was he even capable of such a thing? The sudden interactions with the outside world caused him to realize just how little he knew about it.

Chip currently projected his body onto a windowsill in Binary's room, as he stared outside and watched the rain.

Each raindrop made a mess, so many unpredictable little cannonballs of liquid hurtling through the air. Each one formed through an overly complicated process into a single isolated raindrop that in the short time of their existence manage to do nothing more than be embraced into the earth where pony's walk over top of them without a care.

The sound of fast paced hoofsteps echoed through the halls. Binary dashed into her room and dove under her bed.

"Hey, Chip, do you know where my auto sander is?"

Chip did not reply, his mind was to busy attempting to comprehend the purpose of raindrops for whatever reason.

"Binary..." Chip said.

"What?" Binary asked, as she poked her head out from under the other side of the bed.

"Are raindrops... alive?" Chip asked.

"Uh... no, you should know that. Now about my sander?"

"But they have many of the characteristics of a living thing. They are made through precise conditions, they have a limited life span, their direction is changed by whatever forces they meet before they inevitably hit the ground and die... aren't they alive as they need to be"

Binary then crawled out from under the bed, she walked to the windowsill and looked at Chip.

"Don't be silly" she said with a smile "It's not just how things are made that determines if they're alive. A living thing has a heart like me and..." Binary paused for a moment before concluding "Nevermind... about the sander I mean, it's not one of my better inventions anyway"

Binary's eyes then moved to the window and she joined Chip in watching the rain.

A few moments passed with no noise but the sound of rain pattering against the window.

"Ooh, that reminds me, do you remember where my rain coat is?" Binary asked.

"Did you look in the first floor closet?" Chip asked.

Binary thought back for a moment, then replied "No... Well really I hadn't looked at all. I just thought about it now"

If Chip had visible eyes they would be rolling.

"You do realize if you don't take proper precautions when exposed to the elements, you could be harmed"

"I know that"

"No you obviously don't" Chip said with a hint of aggravation.

"Pfft, Chip I know how to take care of myself"

"Well some days I wonder if actually you do!" Chip said sternly as he stared directly into Binary's eyes.

Binary's expression instantly showed her offence to the comment, or more specifically, the tone in which Chip had said it. Binary suddenly felt like a child who had been scolded by a parent, and that was definitely not what Chip was, if anything it should be the opposite.

Binary held her gaze as she walked toward the door... unfortunately she bumped into a wall in the process, causing the scene to lose much of it's seriousness as Binary chuckled at her own misfortune.

Chip's body fizzed as Binary left. He then turned back to the window. As he scanned what he could see from his perch, something caught the attention of his sensors. Chip looked down near the porch. He levitated the window open, his body then fizzed as he strained to make his levitation work beyond the restraints of his home.

A small object in the mud became engulfed in a blue aura. As Chip lifted the object up to the window the raindrops slowly cleaned the mud away, revealing it to be the broken off piece of Binary's horn.

"Maybe... a heart can be made"

Outside...

Binary, now wearing a black rain coat, placed the last of her gadgets into her cart.

The cart itself however was an odd gadget in itself. Like any other cart it was made of wood on the outside, but on the inside, below the floor panels an array wires and circuits allowed the cart to eliminate the need for being pulled completely, as it was designed to drive itself and follow the user around wherever they went. However, any visual prowess the cart had was overshadowed by the large tarp over top of it. Binary had quickly thrown the cover on to avoid her inventions being damaged by the rain, but no matter how hard she tried, it kept looking like a mess. The grey tarp hung lower on one corner than the others, and part of it was already beginning to rip. Any pony with an eye for detail could come up with a hundred other flaws.

But to Binary, it worked, therefore it looked perfect. Binary stared at her work with a joyous wide eyed expression. The look quickly faded away as she looked back to her house. Binary's expression went blank, she had never had a tense encounter with Chip before.

She then looked at the ground and stood in a moment of silence.

She had moments like this before, but like everything else outside of her isolation, it was a different experience. The noise of the rain prevented Binary's thoughts from uninterruptedly rattling around in her head and kept her from dwelling on them. But even with the rain, a thought still bothered her. Why had Chip snapped at her? The only reason she was rushing herself to accomplish her goals was because if she didn't try now, then she knew she would never try at all... that, and the fear. The fear of the world used to drive Binary away but now it was a driving force for her. But why couldn't Chip see that?

Binary looked up at the house once more before slowly walking away, her cart followed close behind.

From the window, Chip watched as Binary left.

The house was silent, aside from the noise of the rain. For the first time in Chip's life, he was alone in the house with no indication of when Binary may be back. The eery silence suddenly began to creep in on Chip, the lack of life that Binary had always brought to the house was gone, and it disturbed him.

Chip looked back out the window, and not far away he saw Binary stop. Chip intently watched as Binary stood still.

"Yes" he thought "Come back, come back home"

His hopes were quickly crushed when he saw her approach what appeared to be some sort of boutique.

Chip's body fizzed and crackled "How could I have been so ignorant!?" He thought to himself. "Of course she wasn't going to come back that quickly" Chip's body suddenly ceased it's sub-optimal state. He hung his head low and asked himself "Why?" He looked back up and saw Binary knocking on the door of the boutique "Why does my logic fail me when it comes to you?"

A sudden loud crashing sound shook Chip out of his current state.

He zipped his body to the source of the noise and to his utter shock, he saw the legs of a pink pony jutting out from under a pile of boxes of dehydrated food. What happened was plain to see, the pony had opened the pantry doors not anticipating Binary's poor organizational and stacking skills.

The pony shook her head about, which cleared away a few of the boxes and revealed the pony's head.

The currently upside down pony looked at Chip with a happy expression and cheerily said "Hi I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name little guy?"

"Get out" Chip said flatly.

"That's a funny name, Get out (snort) Ha, it's even funnier the second time, not that I'm making fun of you and your name or anything like that, I'm just so super duper extralooperly fanbidously"

"Shut up!"

"What's the matter, Get Out, am I being rude? Because if I am you need to tell me because some times I just can't tell, like this one time I accidentally made my friend cry because... ow" Pinkie's rant suddenly stopped as she felt a sudden pain in her forehead. Blood seeped from a small cut, most likely from one the boxes edges. Pinkie touched the cut then looked at the small amount of blood on her hoof... for an uncomfortably long time, then asked "Hey, Get Out, do you have any band-aids?"

Chip was literally about to blow a breaker before he remembered one of the anger lessons, Cheerliee had taught him. Chip looked at the ground for a moment and thought to himself "Happy place" Chip looked back up at Pinkie Pie.

Her obnoxiously happy expression reminded Chip of the countless times Binary had hurt herself, only to ignore the pain and choose to push on.

"That can be my happy place... Memories" Chip thought to himself.

"Are you alright?" Binary asked the hunched over fashionista.

Rarity's back was still sore from Pinkie's reactionary jump onto her, although the pain wasn't quite as severe as it initially had been, partially due to the hot water bottle she had on her back.

"Oh I'm fine, just a little back trouble, and I've been so backed up with orders that I haven't been able to find a moment to visit a chiropractor and this hot water bottle is so tacky and inconsistently effective"

Binary looked around the boutique. It was an impressive sight in a visual and practical sense, unlike some of the dresses that were on display; or at least that's how Binary saw them.

"Far too fancy for me" Binary thought to herself.

"Were you looking for anything in particular?" Rarity asked.

"Um... I was actually hoping to sell you something" Binary replied.

"Well isn't that just the definition of irony, you come into my shop to sell me something, ha, too rich" Rarity strained to smile, her back hurt more than she let on and the pain made polite chit chat feel like quite a chore.

The sudden noise of something upstairs falling to the floor prompted an immediate reaction from Rarity.

"Excuse me for a moment" Rarity said, she slowly walked to the foot of the stairs and called up to her sister who had undoubtedly caused the crash "Sweetie Belle, are you alright?"

"Yes... was the red dust in that jar important?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Rarity winced as she realized what had fallen "You mean the jar of crushed ruby dust?"

"That's what it looks like" Sweetie Belle replied.

Rarity groaned "Just wait a moment Sweetie Belle, and don't breathe in any of that dust" Rarity then directed her attention back to Binary "I'm sorry, but I have a little sisterly dilemma to solve... or clean up as it were. So just make yourself comfortable until I get back"

Binary looked around and the only chairs that she saw looked as if they were on display. After a few moments, Binary decided to simply sit on the ground.

Rarity shot a confused look toward Binary, before she began the arduous task of getting herself and her hurt back up the stairs.

A few minutes passed and Rarity was still upstairs. Any experienced salespony would have taken this time alone as a chance to inspect the customers space and see what they needed. But a salespony was something Binary truly wasn't; instead, she impatiently waited for Rarity to return. After a few more minutes of waiting, Binary finally gave into her impatience and walked toward the stairs that Rarity had ascended.

Binary looked up the staircase and saw Rarity slowly walking down the first few stairs.

A strained smile came to Rarity's face "I'm sorry I took so long... would you mind coming up here, my back is making descending these stairs quite difficult"

Binary nodded, and ascended the stairs. She then followed Rarity as she led her up to her workshop.

Binary looked around the room. The many faceless mannequins bothered her for some reason.

Rarity pointed a hoof toward a stool at her sketching desk "Please take a seat... unless you would prefer to sit on the ground again"

The stool was much less fancy than the furniture in the lower level, thus Binary quickly trotted towards it and sat down without a second thought. The stool was a bit uncomfortable, possibly to keep the user from getting too comfortable and accidentally falling asleep while at work.

Rarity moved to her desk at a much slower pace and chose to remain standing as sitting for extended periods of time bothered her back further.

"Now, before we get started, what was your name?" Rarity asked.

"Binary Steel" She replied.

"And what are you you here for?"

"I'm here to sell you stuff"

Rarity had heard worse sales pitches, but that didn't make Binary's any less weak.

"Is this your first time as an entrepreneur?"

"I... don't what that means" Binary replied.

"Selling things, is this your first time selling things?"

Binary's eyes narrowed a bit, she then leaned towards Rarity slightly "Are you observant or something?"

"I think the usual phrase is to ask if I'm a mind reader"

Binary gasped "You're a mind reader!"

"No, I was just trying to explain"

"Can you tell what I'm thinking right now?"

Rarity's mouth hung open out of utter shock of Binary's immature nature. (Honestly it's like talking to a pre-school filly) Something suddenly clicked in Rarity's mind. The unicorn she was talking to was the same one who had knocked herself unconscious.

"Are you feeling alright?" Rarity asked

"Yeah sure why wouldn't I..." Binary then took note of Rarity's confused expression. Binary's cheery expression suddenly sunk down into a neutral one "I'm not doing a good job, am I?"

"Honestly, no you're not"

Binary looked at the floor, then took another look around the studio. Every dress had obviously been made from scratch, and it was clear that a lot of care had gone into them. But perhaps the most obvious, yet initially overlooked part of the room was how it showed the designer's success.

"How did you do all of this?" Binary asked.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean?" Rarity replied.

"Make ponies want your stuff, I just don't get it"

"Hmm... I think I understand what you're going through"

"You do?"

"Yes, you have products that you've put a lot of effort into, and you know there's something special about them. But the hard part is convincing others that they're special. I remember when I first started designing, I had a hard time convincing others that my dresses were worth their attention and admittedly after a few rejections, I started to question if they were good enough myself. That was when I learned that before I could convince others to appreciate my work, first I had to truly convince myself that they were worth it. Once you find the confidence in your own achievements, then you can start gaining confidence in yourself, and that's the key"

Binary tilted her head to the side slightly and stared as if in a trance "...Oh, you stopped talking, I'm sorry, I have a very short attention span"

Rarity looked away and rolled her eyes in response.

"I just need to know how to talk to other ponies without it getting all weird" Binary said before leaning back, having forgotten she was sitting on a backless stool. Binary's eyes shrunk to the size of pin pricks as she fell backward, only to be suddenly surrounded by Rarity's magic aura and be levitated back to her slouched sitting position.

Rarity shook her head slightly and using her magic, she straightened Binary's back and lifted her head up a bit "Oh well that's simple" Rarity said, she then took a few steps back "Rule #1: Posture"

Binary looked at herself, then looked back at Rarity with a dissatisfied look on her face "I said, talk to ponies"

Rarity groaned, she was suddenly reminded of the many times she had tried to give Sweetie Belle advice "Just here me out...eh-hem... Rule#1 Posture, never slouch when approaching or being approached by a customer"

"Unlike you're doing right now"

"Excuse me but i believe I explained about my back!" Rarity said as she shot a tense stare at Binary "Now as I was saying. Rule #2: Stay focused. Friendly chit chat is fine but you should always keep the conversation related to the sale at hand, lest you, or the customer gets distracted. Rule #3 Know your target customers. You don't want to go try and sell ploughs to a rich Canterlot socialite.

79 rules later...

"And finally, Rule #83. Don't pester your customers, if they say they don't want something that means they don't want it"

Binary stared at Rarity in silence for a few moments, then asked "Um... Should I have been writing those down? Cause there's no way I'm going to remember all that"

Rarity sighed. Of course this odd pony had to come on a slow day. Any other day she could excuse herself from some annoyance by tending to a customer. "Perhaps, for you I could recommend one last thing. When you're trying to make a sale, try to be serious"

"Serious..." Binary thought on the word for a moment. Nopony had ever asked Binary to be serious before, except Chip and even if then, Binary didn't take him seriously (pun).

The shops door bell suddenly rang

"Oh thank Celestia!" Rarity thought to herself. "I do believe my little sales seminar will need to come to an end now, I trust you remember the way out"

Rarity then slowly walked back to the stairs as Binary hopped off the stool and trotted past her. Binary then descended the stairs.

Binary continued to move at a quicker pace than Rarity until she was out of the fashionista's line of sight. A few moments afterwards, Binary called up the stairs "Hey there's nopony down here"

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked as she forced herself to painfully quicken her decent. Rarity's back was aching by the time she finally got down the stairs. Rarity groaned slightly from the pain, but after a a few moments of rest she was ready to move again. Rarity then walked into her show room and was immediately frustrated when she saw that whoever was there seemed to have already left.

Rarity gritted her teeth as she walked towards Binary, who was currently trying on several different hats, thoroughly amused by how needlessly fancy all of them were.

Rarity thought to herself "If this dunce has cost me a customer, then I'll... wait a moment" Rarity gathered the evidence in her mind "The bell rings twice for one pony, once for coming, once for going but the bell only rang once"

Just as Rarity figured out what had happened, the ringer of the door belle re-entered the boutique. Sweetie Belle walked in, wearing a yellow rain coat.

Before Rarity could begin a lecture as per usual, a suddenly energetic Binary dived toward Sweetie Belle and landed an uncomfortably close distance to the filly.

Sweetie Belle's eyes went wide in shock and she took a few small steps back... which to Binary seemed like the cutest thing in the world.

(take note that Binary didn't see Sweetie Belle earlier)

"Aww, it's a baby" Binary then looked toward Rarity and said "Wow, you don't look anything alike for mother and daughter"

Sweetie Belle let out a quiet "Umm..." as she looked towards Rarity.

Binary observed Rarity's expression turn into a angry glare, with a raised eye brow for emphasis.

Binary's face suddenly went blank. She then whispered to Sweetie Belle "Oh... you two are sisters aren't you?"

Sweetie Belle nodded.

"Oh dang"

Rarity stormed toward Binary and said in a dignified, yet pissed off tone "How dare you assume such a thing! Does my body look like it's gone through the trial that is child birth!? Does my mane have grey hairs from catering to the endless needs of a baby!? And the biggest offence you have committed is stating that I and my sister do not share many of the same beautiful qualities, why, you might as well have called her a mule"

Binary then slunk behind Sweetie Belle and barely squeaked "that's racist"

"Get out" Rarity said, restraining her aggravation.

"I'm sor..." Binary began to say.

For a moment, Rarity's pain and aggravation got the better of her, and she shrieked"Geeeeet oooooout!"

Binary scrambled for the door, paying no mind to the fact that she had left her rain coat behind. She slammed the door behind her and rushed away from the boutique, her cart followed at slightly slower pace.

Sweetie Belle stared at Rarity, equal parts shocked and confused, as well as a little disappointed in her sister.

Rarity turned away from Sweetie Belle, she walked to one of the shops many mirrors and began to take several deep breaths to calm herself.

"I'm sorry you saw that, Sweetie Belle. I suppose I'm not setting a very good example"

"It's alright sis, emotions happen"

"Oh what I wouldn't do to have one day without things like pain or feelings" Rarity said before turning back to face Sweetie Belle. Rarity approached her sister and wrapped a foreleg around her to squeeze her into a hug "But if I did then I wouldn't be able to love you like I do"

Sweeite Belle then attempted to return the hug, but Rarity quickly pulled away. Sweeite Belle was soaking wet after all.

Rarity then corrected her posture as much as she could "Now that we've had a little sentimental moment... would you mind telling me why you went out in the rain when I explicitly asked you not to?"

"It looked like the rain was letting up" Sweetie Belle replied in a pointless attempt to justify her childish mistake.

The two sisters both paused as they heard the boom of thunder in the distance.

"Let me take a moment to analyze what you've said" Chip said to Pinkie Pie. The energetic mare had just given an extremely long, fast, and detailed explanation as to why she had broken into Chip's home. "Essentially, what you've said indicates that you're trying to gather information for a party"

"Yep, I throw a party for every new pony in ponyville but the only way to do it properly is to investigate what that pony likes"

"And the reason you were in the pantry was...?"

"I was trying to find what food she likes" Pinkie then looked at the pile of dehydrated food boxes "But I don't think I know the recipe for whatever those are, so I'll just have to go with cake instead, although honestly their would have been cake anyway, and speaking of cake, would you happen to know what kind of cake she likes?"

"Cake?" Chip asked.

"You know chocolate, strawberry and vanilla try all those and never get your filla," Pinkie then jumped onto her hind legs, threw her forelegs into the air and cheered " at your first party in ponvillaaaa!"

"I don't think the small tune was appropriate, but I'm willing to ignore it... what does vanilla taste like?"

"Well vanilla tastes like, mmm... but strawberry tastes like, mmm tangy... but chocolate tastes like, mmm mmm mmm so good!"

"I have no idea what you are trying to communicate to me. I don't think I approve of this party, and I hardly think Binary would enjoy it anyway... it seems trivial"

"Trivial!?" Pinkie shrieked as she hopped towards Chip, she stood on the tips of her hooves and looked down on Chip "Everypony wants a party, and it's a complex process of finding out what a pony likes or dislikes and using those to make the best experience so they'll stay in ponyville forever!" Pinkie paused for a moment then smacked her head with her hoof "Oh shoot, now I'll need to plan a party for you too"

Pinkie then looked at her hoof. A small streak of blood was smeared on her hoof. She looked up to her forehead and said to herself "That little cut just doesn't want to scab up"

Pinkie then looked back down to Chip and before she could ask, Chip replied "Yes, I have band-aids"

Binary trudged through the muddy rode. After the absolute disaster at the boutique, Binary had decided that the best choice was to venture to the edge of town and seek some of the more "rustic" looking homes, out of hope that the residents may be a little less sensitive.

Binary hated mud, it was hard to walk in, it made a mess of her hooves, and it made her cart move incredibly slow, not that Binary herself walked very fast in the mud anyway. But the reason she hated it the most was because of how it absorbed anything that fell into it, just like the irritation which was slowly growing in Binary's mind. At the moment, her cheery disposition was gone, her head hung low and she tensely looked down the rode.

"Hey!" A strange voice called from above Binary.

Binary looked straight up into the air, consequentially getting her glasses covered in rain drops. Through the water droplets Binary saw the distorted form of a light blue pegasus with a multicoloured mane and tail.

The Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, fluttered down to the rode and landed in front of Binary.

"Don't you know you're not suppose to be outside in the rain?" Rainbow asked.

"Well ... I was just"

"Trying to catch a cold or something... wait a minute you look familiar" Rainbow thought for a moment "Oh yeah, you're that unicorn who hit your head on your door" Rainbow looked at Binary's broken horn "You broke you horn too. I gotta say, that must stink"

"It's not so bad, I never really used it anyway"

"What? That's would be like me not using my wings to fly" Rainbow flapped her wings a few times to emphasize her point.

Binary ignored Rainbow's comment, instead she was attempting to look up at her horn. She could just barely see the jagged broken tip "It'll probably grow back, right?"

"Uh... maybe" Rainbow then looked up to the clouds. The weather was beginning to get a little out of hoof and needed some adjustments before it took a turn for the worse.

"Well, I hope your head's feeling better, but I've gotta tend to the clouds" Rainbow said as she began to slowly take off into the air.

Binary's expression suddenly shot up to an excited smile "Wait a second" Binary called to Rainbow, who was already too high up to hear her. Binary ran back to her cart and fished around in her cluttered pile of contraptions for a weather modification device she had made to assist pegasi with sky clearing.

Up in the clouds, Rainbow adjusted the dark grey bodies of water vapour. It turned out to be a quicker fix than she thought it was going to be. Rainbow pushed a few thicker clouds apart, then moved them to meld together with some of the smaller clouds. As she was doing this, Rainbow looked down to the ground and saw Binary setting something up.

The contraption consisted of two small wheels which were joined by what resembled a cup holder. The wheels were connected to a long skinny metal barrel that pointed up to the sky. All it needed now was some ammo. Binary reached into one of her many pockets (consequentially getting mud inside the pocket) and pulled out a small metal egg shaped object. Binary then placed the object into the wheels holder. The wheels then began to spin. Slowly at first but they quickly picked up their pace as the seconds went by. The spinning became violently fast and the egg shaped object began to heat up from friction with the air. The dangerously fast spinning also caused a loud humming sound, which drew the attention of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow flew in closer to see what was happening " Hey, what's that thing doing?" Rainbow called.

Binary simply smiled as she stared at her invention. The light from the wheel reflected in her eyes. She loved that moment, that moment right before she was going to see an invention do what it was made for, to work exactly how she had made it to.

"Hey!" Rainbow called again.

Binary quickly looked up at Rainbow, then looked back down. A frightened expression came to Binary's face as she realized Rainbow was right in the path of what was about to happen.

Binary stood on her hind legs and yelled up at Rainbow "Get out of the way!"

"Out of the way of what?" Rainbow yelled back.

In an instant the wheels moved closer to the barrel. The holder lined up perfectly with the bottom of the barrel and the momentum of the egg shaped object sent it hurtling up through the barrel and into the sky at an insane speed.

"Holy Hay!" Rainbow exclaimed before she dashed to the side just in time to avoid being cut in half by the projectile.

Rainbow then rocketed to the the ground and looked at Binary, her expression was a mix of anger and shock "What the heck was that!?" Rainbow yelled.

Binary lowered her head and meekly replied "My... cloud clearing device"

"Cloud clearing..." Rainbow said to herself before looking up into the air "Oh no"

An orange stream of light followed the projectile as it entered the clouds and became lost from either pony's sight. A few moments passed and nothing happened. Suddenly a loud explosion followed by a bright orange flash lit up a small portion of the sky, and the grey storm clouds were suddenly blown away, leaving a large gap in the otherwise cloudy sky.

The rain around Rainbow and Binary instantly stopped and the sun shined down on them.

Binary smiled at the sight of her invention working without a flaw.

The feeling however was not mutual.

Rainbow's expression sunk into an angry grimace and she slowly turned her head toward Binary.

"What... the... Buck!" Rainbow cursed.

Binary met Rainbow's angry gaze and responded "Whoa, chill out, technicolour"

"Chill out?...Technicolour!? Do you realize how long it took me to get those clouds into position, how painstakingly slow it was to arrange them so it rains evenly, and did you even stop to consider how lazy it makes all us pegasi look when theirs a huge gaping hole in the middle of a rain shower"

"No" Binary squeaked in response.

Rainbow turned away from Binary and let out a loud, yet restrained groan before shooting up to the sky to put the clouds back in place.

Binary could hear the frustrated Pegasus mumbling some harsh sounding words, yet the growing distance between them left Binary unable to tell exactly what Rainbow was saying (perhaps that was for the best)

Binary stared at her weather clearer. It had worked exactly how it was supposed to, why was it not appreciated?

Binary then thought back to what that purple maned unicorn had told her about figuring out what somepony actually wants. Although it didn't seem to matter now, she had now lost another potential customer and may have even lost the entire pegasus market.

Binary then looked around to make sure no pony was watching. Her expression turned rage filled, and she harshly grabbed the device then viciously chucked it into her cart, the impact broke the device into several pieces

She then slouched and trudged forward.

Even without the rain, the rode was still muddy.

"There" Chip said as he placed a band aid over Pinkie's scratch "Now your wound can heal without as much of a chance of being infected"

"Thanks... so, about the party?"

"I already explained that Binary would..."

"No silly not for her, I'm wondering about a party for you. What's the funnest, most super joyful thing you like to do?"

"Why do you need to know? Chip asked.

"Well if I don't know what you like then I can't concentrate that thing into an all around theme for your party... you do want a party, right?"

"Want?" Chip scanned the word for meaning "I don't really have wants, other than for Binary to be happy"

Pinkie's expression slunk into a confused frown "Umm... I'm not really sure if I can work with that" Pinkie looked at the ground as she thought on the subject. She then shot back up to her usual peppy grin and said "What if I made party for you, where everyone is nice to Binary, and it can double as her party too"

"No" Chip replied flatly.

Pinkie's smile dipped slightly for a moment, then almost instantly warmed back up "Aw come on you're kidding, everypony likes parties"

"I don't like anything" Chip said, his body fizzed immediately after the words.

"You don't mean that" Pinkie persisted.

"I can't say what I don't mean" Chip's body fizzed, more severely this time although Pinkie failed to notice it.

"Don't be silly, just look into your heart and find the deepest, most enjoyable thing you can think of"

"I... don't have a heart... yet"

"Oooookay... well on a different note and admittedly something I should have asked before, what are you exactly?"

"I am an Artificial Intelligence. I was created to aid Binary in her daily struggles, and prevent her mental deterioration during her period of self imposed isolation. Or in other words, I keep her from going crazy"

Pinkie's face suddenly went blank in response. She then reached into her hair and pulled out a noise maker and blew it. The end of the noise maker passed through Chip's body before folding back up.

"Why did you do that?" Chip asked.

"I'm trying to lighten the mood. You were getting really deep there for a second"

Binary hung her head low as she approached a small cottage on the edge of ponyville. After only two attempts at selling her gadgets she was already thinking about throwing in the towel. However, one fact kept Binary holding on; neither of the two ponies had anything against her gadgets, they had simply not liked her. Not exactly the most comforting thought... but it was something to keep her going.

Binary arrived at the cottages front door, her cart was a few feet behind her. She raised a hoof to knock on the door but paused just before knocking, she took a few steps back. Binary hung her head with her eyes closed. Her head bobbed up and down slightly as she slowly inhaled and exhaled. After a long minute of calm breathing, Binary corrected her posture and smiled as she held her head high and went to knock... with her eyes still closed. Binary stretched her fore-leg out and waved her leg about as she attempted to hit the door. She leaned closer, and her weight quickly shifted too far to her front. Binary felt herself begin to fall forward and opened her eyes just before falling face first into the door. Although a plus was the impact made a large enough sound to be considered a knock.

Binary groaned as she got back up on her hooves. She held her nose, which had taken the brunt of the collision.

"No! No!" she screamed in her head "Its already going wrong! Why! What did I do to deser..." Binary looked down at her hoof and saw a surprising amount of blood on it "Aww Come on!" She hissed at herself. Binary quickly attempted to wipe some of the blood off her face using her vest which resulted in a large stain on the garment.

Too many things were going wrong. That was it, she was quitting. After a grand total of three attempts at being a salespony/inventor, she was getting ready to run away back to the lonely hill she had dared to roll down from. Binary quickly turned and was about to run as fast as she could back to the safety of her home... but was suddenly stopped by a soft voice from behind her.

"Hello" The voice said from behind the door.

Binary began to panic... more-so than she already was. She had no time to run away, what if the pony laughed at her, or what if this was the pony that would've finally made everything click and she had lost the opportunity by looking like (to put it lightly) a pony that had just been in a bar brawl. Binary quickly chose the only option appropriate for the situation, she hid. Binary dove behind her cart and tried to calm herself down. Although thinking about how upset she was just seemed to make it worse.

"Is anypony there?" The voice asked. Fluttershy peeked her head out the door.

Binary's racing senses suddenly stood still, she recognized that voice, it was the voice of that pony who had helped her before. She cautiously poked her head out from behind her cart.

Fluttershy gasped at the sight of the stressed out unicorn, but her momentary state of surprise dissipated as she recognized Binary.

"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked.

"Ooh I'm fine, just a little... off" Binary said as she moved out from behind her cart, and limply stepped toward Fluttershy, whom also stepped out from the safety of her home.

"You're nose is bleeding" Fluttershy pointed out. The sight of the smeared streams of crimson from Binary's nostrils worried Fluttershy slightly.

A weak smile came to Binary's face and she stuck out a mud covered forehoof, expecting Fluttershy to shake it.

"Umm...Not to be rude or anything, but... you're sort of dirty" Fluttershy said as politely as she could.

"Uh-huh, I sure... (sigh) I sure am... heh heh"

"Is there something wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

"No... um...I... would you like to buy some...(sniff)..." Binary then sat on the ground and began to move the tip of her hoof around in the mud.

Fluttershy moved closer to Binary "What are you doing?" she asked softly.

"(sigh) Drawing. It's what I used to do when I was filly whenever I got really upset. I haven't done it in years"

Binary suddenly stopped stopped her mud sketch. She watched as the impact from the spits of rain washed away her drawing.

A long forgotten feeling suddenly began to rear it's ugly head. That feeling of pointlessness that Binary had felt long ago when she was a filly. Binary could remember a few other times this feeling had attempted to engulf her mind but unlike those times, she did not have Chip to make it better, but the comforting thought of Chip was lost as Binary thought of his rude warnings and recent odd behaviour.

It seemed Binary was once again in the same position she was as a filly. Just a sad girl, sitting in mud, after a tough day... but this time she was alone... or not.

Binary was surprised to feel a foreleg placed on her shoulder. Binary did not respond to the gesture, instead she simply remained looking at the ground and continued to sulk.

"Binary, if you want help, you need to tell me what's wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

Binary's emotions suddenly screeched to a halt as she thought about what Fluttershy had asked.

What was wrong?

Well... it was raining, just a little bit though. Binary had failed in selling her gadgets to two customers, however that was two out of a whole town of potential buyers. The worst thing was probably falling face first into Fluttershy's door, but to be honest that was just a freak accident. The more Binary thought, the less seemed wrong.

"Uh..." Binary began to say as she regained her composition "... I guess, I'm just making something seem bigger than it is"

"Oh... well that's good. Would you like to come inside and clean yourself up?"

"Sure" Binary replied, her perky attitude returning slightly. "Do you want to buy some of my inventions?" Binary asked.

"Um..." Fluttershy hesitated. She then looked toward the cart "... there's nothing dangerous in there, right?"

"Define dangerous?"

"Why are you still here?" Chip asked Pinkie.

Pinkie was currently snooping around in Binary's room for anything that may indicate what she would enjoy... Although their was very little to go on.

The room's floors, walls, and ceiling, were all perfectly polished stainless steel, and the only pieces of furniture were a metal dresser, with a few seemingly more advanced gadgets on top of it, along with an old worn bed with grey covers. Much like the furniture in Binary's living room, the bed didn't seem to fit with the rest of the house.

Just from looking around she could find nothing to help her party planning research. She then turned her attention to the dresser.

"How does she keep everything so tidy?" Pinkie asked Chip.

Chip zipped his body up onto the dresser and replied "Everything in the most of these room instantly maintains itself, it helps Binary save time... also for the fact that Binary is sub-par at housework"

"So if I did..." Pinkie began to say as she readied herself for a jump "this!" she cheered, as she jumped up onto Binary's bed then bounced off and landed in front of Binary's dresser.

Chip's body fizzed in response as he looked at the now moderately disturbed bed.

A quartet of mechanical arms descended from the ceiling and quickly fixed the bed back to it's original condition.

Pinkie watched with great interest as the four arms retracted into the ceiling; a smaller pair of arms descended and fluffed the pillows, then ascended back up into the ceiling.

"Cool" she said "That was a really good bed to bounce on"

"Why did you do that?" Chip asked.

"Because it was fun" Pinkie replied.

"Fun?" Chip asked, obviously confused.

Pinkie then ran her hoof along the top of the dresser. Two gadgets laid atop the piece of furniture. One being and incredibly complicated rubk's cube like puzzle; the other was small ball that hovered slightly above the dresser, seemingly by itself. Pinkie took a closer look at the ball and as she did the ball split aprt into millions of small nanite fragements, then almost instantly reformer to mimic Pinkie's face exactly; she then contorted her face into several silly expressions and giggled as she watched her nanized reflection. She then pulled her head back and the ball reversed it's process, quickly changin back to the ball it started out as.

She then tapped on the dresser drawers "Do you think Binary would mind if I just took a peek inside this?" she asked.

Chip would rather have just said "yes, she would mind" but that wouldn't really be an appropriate response from Binary "No, she wouldn't mind" Chip admitted.

Pinkie opened the highest of the three vertically stacked drawers. It contained six black vests, one pair of glasses, twelve red bracelets and six black bows.

"Hmm... one for everyday of the week and an extra pair of glasses. I think I'm starting to get what she likes, she likes everything neat and..." Pinkie pulled out the next drawer and found it was filled with rusty old tools that weren't organized at all "...tidy"

Pinkie reached into the drawer and pulled out a old rusty hammer "Are these her tools?" Pinkie asked as she examined the seemingly ancient hammer.

"No, those are (entry not found). Huh, I'm not sure who's tools those are... Binary must have neglected to put that knowledge into my code"

Pinkie placed the hammer back in it's pile and closed the drawer. She attempted to open the third drawer but found that it was locked. She then turned to look at Chip

Chip was currently projecting his body onto the bed. He moved his body in a jumping motion but he could not create the desired bounce. Chip hung his head slightly indicating his minor disappointment.

"Is there a key to this?" Pinkie asked.

Chip nodded, then looked toward the door. A few seconds passed and an old key surrounded in Chip's dull blue aura came floating into the room, then flew towards Pinkie.

Pinkie grabbed the key and pushed inside the drawers key hole then turned it.

"This is all rather odd, I've never actually seen the inside of that drawer. I've never had any desire to see until now" Chip said as Pinkie slid the drawer open.

Pinkie looked inside the drawer and saw stacks of old drawings, and a file filled with paper, marked "Project A.F".

The drawings were stacked neatly, but not meticulously. Further down the stack the paper showed signs of age, it was obvious they were stacked from oldest to newest.

Pinkie picked up the stack of papers "I love drawings" she said as she looked through them.

Chip zipped his body onto the top of the dresser and looked inside the drawer.

Many of the drawings were primitive looking drawings of some of Binary's inventions in very early states of development. Oddly, the colour of the gadgets greatly differed from their original design; hardly any appeared to have been designed to be the metallic grey almost all of them were, except for a few cases in which colour coding was necessary. But as Pinkie went deeper into the pictures, the colourful sketches became less frequent, and a few of the ones that still remained looked as though they were designed to damage things.

Chip eyed the folder in the drawer, then levitated it up to his hologram and opened it. The first page of the folder read:

"I have been trying for weeks to finish my prototype, but nothing seems to be working. I feel as though my desire for the project to be completed as quickly as possible may be hindering my efforts. If I continue to rush the project then I will inevitably need to keep starting over. I've started the groundwork for compiling the code for it, which would as act the projects memories and personality, although the personality may be difficult. Under new estimates, each stage of the project may take up to a month to complete... although I worry about myself sometimes too. I've taken note that in the morning I immediately start working on the project as soon as I wake up, rather than performing my usual morning routine. Although this practice has accounted for a 12% increase in my work time, so I may learn to live with it"

"Intriguing" Chip said.

Pinkie looked up at Chip and asked "What's interesting?"

"I said intriguing, but that's beside the point. It seems, I've happened upon Binary's notes from when she was making me... although it's odd she never mentions me by name, and the fact that she seems to have been hiding them from me, I find it... odd"

"Maybe it's a plot thread" Pinkie said as her eyes wandered back to the pictures.

"Hmm... maybe you have a po... wait, what?

The rain had become more severe, making the rode much muddier.

"Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid" Binary cursed herself as she walked down the rode.

Unfortunately, Binary had blown any potential for Fluttershy as a buyer of her gadgets. Her automatic rodent net device had gone haywire and ensnared several animals in Fluttershy's cottage in extremely small nets. Which wouldn't have been so bad if the nets weren't designed to squeeze whatever animal was caught in them like a boa constrictor.

Fluttershy, in a rarely seen fit of anger, then proceeded to literally throw Binary out of her cottage.

Binary continued to mutter to herself. She glared down the rode with a look of absolute detest for everything she saw. Nothing was like it had been a few days ago. Instead of everything being warm and welcoming, the world seemed to have turned cold and bitter around her; and the worst thing was that everything that happened was Binary's own stupid fault.

Accidentally insulting the fashionista, ticking off that pegasus, and almost killing many of Fluttershy's beloved animals. Somehow Binary had brought out the worst in all of them. Even the problem of the weather could have been avoided if Binary had just waited another day, but instead she had felt some foolish need to do it today.

"What was I thinking, why didn't I just wait like Chip told me to!?" Binary grumbled to herself. She then responded to herself in a goofy self making tone "Well that's simple, it's because you're an idiot when it comes to anything other than machines" She swiped at the mud with a forehoof then replied to herself "Well maybe if the world wasn't so flipping hostile to anything new (deep inhale) I COULD ACTUALLY MAKE SOME BUCKING PROGRESS AND!...And... AND STOP HAVING TO RELY ON A FAKE BEST FRIEND!..." Binary suddenly froze and thought about what she had just said, then immediately became repentant. She began to meekly mutter to herself while pacing in a circle "No no no, I didn't mean that, Chip is my best friend, I need him, I'll always need him because he's the only one who understands"

The cart followed Binary as she paced, which after a few circles began to create a deep rut.

"I just need to stay calm and..." Binary paused as her ears flicked in response to a slight creaking sound. Binary slowly turned her head and watched as her cart creaked to a stop. Her eyes shrank to the size of pin tips as her mind mathematically determined what was about to happen in the next few seconds.

The repeated tight circles had placed far too much stress on the wheel inside the rut, and after a few more moments of creaking the wheel snapped off the axle, dropping one side of the cart into the mud. The other wheel then began to turn in an attempt to correct itself, which resulted in it creating an even deeper rut.

Binary didn't scream, she didn't panic, she didn't even get mad. It was an easy fix, just levitate the cart out of the mud and find a way to get the wheel back on. Binary calmly reached into one of her many vest pockets and pulled out her levitation wand. She pointed the device at the cart and pushed a small button to turn it on. The device did nothing. Binary raised an eye brow to show her annoyance as to why her invention was not working. The wand made a sizzling sound, then popped into several pieces; the resulting flash and heat, burnt Binary's hoof and her eyes.

"Oh I guess it broke because of the water" Binary said in a far too calm tone. She began to deliriously chuckle to herself "I know what I'll do"

Binary took a few steps back, lowered herself into a ready position and pointed her horn towards the cart and strained as she attempted to levitate it.

However the effort was in vain, as Binary's horn neither glowed, nor sparked. It was no accident that Binary couldn't properly use magic. The real reason was actually genetic. Binary's parents had both been earth ponies, and herself being a unicorn was only possible through the genetics of Binary's grandmother on her mother's side, who was also a unicorn. This generational gap between the unicorn gene, alongside the already commonly known fact of non-purebred unicorns have difficulty using magic, resulted in a genetic dilemma that made it nearly impossible for Binary to use magic... (although any science that needs to take magic into account can't be one hundred percent accurate)

Binary held her breath and attempted to squeeze out whatever bit of magic she could muster. She suddenly exhaled and a small red spark of light popped from the end of her horn. This pop was all the magic Binary could exert and that combined with everything that had happened in the course of a single day caused Binary to...

(We've all had them; those bad days when nothing goes right and we just want to run to every person (pony) who annoys us and scream at them, then kick and throw things around to add emphasis. What do we call that? We call that a tantrum... yes... Binary was about to have one of those.)

Binary charged at the cart and pounded on it with her fore-hooves. She yelled and screamed and cried all at the same time. She proceeded to grab the edges of the cart and attempted to either lift it out of the mud or tip it upside down; she didn't really care which happened. Unfortunately, Binary's minimal physical strength yielded no such results. She then spun herself around, and with her hind legs, she furiously kicked the cart.

After about thirty seconds of kicking, Binary began to huff and puff, obviously quite winded from the physical effort. But she wasn't done yet. She quickly ran a few feet away, turned, then yelled as she jumped toward the cart in a pose similar to some martial artist doing an air kick.

"Daaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" she screamed as she impacted the cart. Her hoof hit the cart with a loud clunk, and she nearly fell backwards into the mud; although the real miracle was that Binary didn't break her leg while performing her rage filled stunt.

Even after that... the cart showed no signs of cosmetic damage aside from the mud that had gone from Binary's hooves, to the cart.

"So (gasp) you had (gasp) enough?" Binary asked the inanimate cart.

"I think it's had enough" An accented voice said from a moderate distance away.

Binary instantly turned and saw the orange country pony, Applejack, leaning against a wood fence. Applejack wore a dark green rain jacket. The rain poured off the farm pony's hat, slightly obscuring her face. Behind her was a dirty mud covered plow. Applejack had obviously been drawn away from her current chore by Binary's yells.

"Ya havin a bit of a break down there?" Applejack asked.

Binary's face turned red from the embarrassment of somepony having witnessed her tantrum, this also only made her more frustrated.

"Wha... I... no!... Mind your own...Gaahh!" Binary shrieked. She then stomped over to her cart and attempted to pull it out of the mud.

"Ya know, even if ya get that out of the mud, yer still not going anywhere if ya don't get that wheel back on"

"I know" Binary retorted with a hint of her current aggravation breaking into her speech. Binary quickly gave up on her current strategy. She hopped into the thoroughly stuck cart to look for a mechanized jack that she had brought along with her.

Applejack couldn't help but be a little amused by the display; though she was a little concerned, given Binary's actions just a few days prior.

"Ah Ha! I've got it" Binary cheered before hopping out of her cart, carrying the jack with her in one hoof. However she quickly realized that she still needed to get the jack under the cart in order for the device to do it's job. She turned to look at Applejack, then asked "I don't suppose you could lift this, could you?"

"Well I won't say I can till I try to and see" Applejack replied before she jumped over the fence and walked toward the cart. The farm pony stuck her right forehoof hoof into the mud and felt around for the edge of the cart.

Binary rolled her eyes at the farm pony's efforts and began to say "I don't think it's statistically possible for you to..."

With a single mighty lift, Applejack hoisted the edge of the cart out of the mud and held it at chest height with minimal effort.

Binary's eyes went wide; she had never seen such a feat of strength, granted she'd never really been in a situation where such strength was required.

"Ya gonna stand and stare or are ya gonna put the jack under there?" Applejack asked, although she would have been perfectly capable of lifting the cart for more several minutes without trouble.

Binary blinked a few times, then did as the farm pony asked and placed the jack under the edge of the cart.

Applejack rested the cart on top of the jack, then took a moment to look at the device.

"Uh, ya know this jack ain't got no lever on it, right? Applejack asked.

"It's voice activated" Binary replied. She then directed her speech to the jack "Higher" she said. The jack did as instructed and it extended itself up a short distance.

A surprised smile came to Applejack's face "Well ain't that something. Can I try?"

"Yeah, it works with anypony's voice... or at least it should"

Applejack lowered herself slightly, under the assumption that being closer would make it work better "Higher" she said.

The jack responded just as before, and extended even higher.

"As the school pony's say, that sure is cool"

"You... like it?" Binary asked meekly.

"That's a neat-o little gizmo ya got there"

"You... wouldn't want to buy it would you?"

The sudden sales pitch caught Applejack off guard "Uh... maybe we should focus on getting the wheel back on first"

"Oh... okay" Binary lowered her head slightly and looked away. It seemed as though she had blown it once again. "Well at least she isn't mad at me" Binary thought to herself

Applejack looked at the broken wheel and gave her assumption of what they should do "Well, I don't think you'll be able to fix that. You'll probably need to take it some sort of shop"

"Nope, I made it, I broke it, so I can fix it" Binary said confidently. Binary was about to begin her repairs but stopped as she saw the farm pony observing her. "Would you mind turning away for a second. I don't like pony's watching me work"

"Oh, uh, okay, whatever floats your boat" Applejack turned away from Binary.

The farm pony stared off into the distance as Binary did her work. The only indication Applejack had that Binary way doing anything was through the sounds of tools clattering around. However the sound was rather odd, many times it seemed as though Binary was doing more than one thing at a time with a multitude of different sounding tools.

A grand total of one minute and fifty five seconds had passed before Binary happily stated "Done"

Applejack turned, and was surprised to see that Binary had completely repaired the cart, wheel and all, and had noticeably made a few improvements, such as reinforcing the axles joints with metal that she had cannibalized from her weather clearing device... something she would instantly regret.

A sudden gust of wind swept over the field, nearly blowing away Applejack's hat, and giving the farm pony a sense of what was coming. The day's rain shower was quickly turning into a full fledged storm; possibly due to the misplaced clouds from Binary's earlier sales attempt.

Binary shivered from the cold, unaware of what was to come.

"Maybe it'll let up" Binary said with a hint of cautious optimism.

A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, quickly followed by the sound of thunder.

A concerned expression came to Applejack's face as she looked up at the clouds "I think ya best go back to where ya came from before this storm gets any worse" she said to Binary.

"Is it possible for it to get worse?" Binary asked naively, just before another bolt of lighting struck the ground. "Okay I'm gonna take that as the obvious hint that it is..." Another rumble of thunder prompted Binary to ask the farm pony "Can I come with you?"

Applejack stammered slightly before she responded "Wha?... Why? Don't ya have a place to go?"

"Yeah, but I think it's really far away and...I don't want to get caught in the storm"

"Well... I suppose ya could come with me, just until the storm clears up. My farms just a little ways up the rode, come on"

"Also... when I hit my cart, I busted what makes it move on it's own, sooooo..."

Applejack raised an eye brow as she knew what Binary was about to ask "Ya want me to pull it?" Applejack asked.

Binary reached under the cart and pushed a hidden button, which caused two sets of harnesses to extend from the front of the cart. Binary nodded in response to Applejack's question "I'll help... although I'm severely lacking in the area of upper body strength"

"It's really getting nasty outside" Pinkie said to Chip, as she walked out of Binary's room and proceeded down the hall.

Chip's body sat on the windowsill and looked outside. He payed no mind to where the pink pony was currently going.

"If by, "nasty" you mean an increase in precipitation, wind and lightning; then yes, it's getting quite nasty out..." Chip paused and scanned as far as his optical sensors could "If this weather persists, Binary should be home anytime now"

"What's behind this door?" Pinkie asked from down the hall.

Chip zipped himself into the hall and stood beside Pinkie.

Chip stared at the door at the end of the T shaped hallway.

"I'm... not sure" Chip replied. The A.I was beginning to get irritated with his lack of knowledge about his own home, and he couldn't help but have a sense that things had been hidden from him that for some reason he didn't notice, or couldn't notice until now. Not to mention that his constant statements of ignorance made him seem rather dull.

While Chip thought about this, he failed to notice Pinkie reaching for the doorknob. Pinkie grabbed the nob and slowly turned it.

Without any force from Pinkie, the door slowly creaked open.

Chip and Pinkie stared into the room, both equally curious.

Pinkie stepped inside the room. It instantly felt different than the rest of the house. The clacking sound from Pinkie's hooves clicking against the metal was replaced with a slight creaking sound as she stepped across the hard wood floor. The air was stale and musty, dust particles danced around in the grey light that shown through a single window, which dimly lit the room, only adding to the already eery atmosphere. A collection of blacksmith's tools hung on the wall, along with several family photos; oddly enough it seemed the mother's face had been cut out of all the pictures. Other pieces of furniture were hidden in the dark corners of the room, not that they were of any real significance. However, on the far wall, below a picture of Binary and her father, sat an old wooden bed with dark blue blankets, under which a small filly sized lump rested.

Pinkie unhesitatingly walked to the bed and lifted up the covers. What she saw caused her jaw to drop in utter shock.

There, laying on the bed like a sleeping filly, sat a robotic pony. The body was crude and seemed unfinished as wires and gear were clearly visible in the joints, it's eyes were strangely designed with several thin pieces of metal suspending the centre of the eye, which would have acted as a pupil of shorts. The most disturbing part of the small robots body was it's face; it seemed trapped in a horrified and painful expression. It was frozen in whatever emotion it was feeling when it expired.

Pinkie laid the covers back over the robot, covering it only up to it's neck. She slowly began to back out of the room.

She nearly jumped when Chip said abruptly "Could you please move, I cannot see past you"

Pinkie turned and quickly trotted out of the room, allowing Chip to see the metal pony staring back at him.

"Soooooo... what is it?" Pinkie asked.

Chip's body sparked as he replied "I don't care" His dull blue aura appeared on the door and it creaked shut, once again leaving the metal pony in it's eery solitude.

Applejack hurriedly pulled Binary's cart up to the doors of the Apple family's barn.

Binary followed behind, having opted out of pulling the cart after proving to only make the task more difficult by walking slower, tripping in the mud several times, and generally adding no benefit to the task at all.

"Would ya mind pulling the door open for me?" Applejack requested as as she stopped before the large barn doors.

Binary nodded in response and quickly walked toward the doors. She grabbed a handle on one of the two doors then slowly pulled it open.

It was incredibly dark in the barn, the large space between the windows caused the already murky light of day to have even less effect. However Applejack could easily have found her way around inside blindfolded; something that proved useful during several other stormy nights and days.

The farm pony pulled the cart inside and undid her harness.

"Well your gadgets will be as safe as a baby bird under it's mamma's wing until the storm lets up"

"Question... would I be able to acquire your pulling services later for the trip back to town?"

Applejack turned away from Binary to roll her eyes without offending the unicorn. "Alright"

"I could give you one of my inventions in return for your help"

"No thanks, it's really not that big of a deal"

"Oh come on!" Binary yelled, before she stomped outside the barn, kicking away a stray bucket as she went.

"Hey!" Applejack called as she followed Binary "What do ya think you're doing, ya can't just kick my buckets"

Applejack quickly exited the barn and turned the corner where Binary had gone. She found the unicorn sitting with her back pressed up against the barn's wall.

Binary stared at the bucket in front of her with a resentful look on her face.

It would have made for a perfect example of awkward silence if their wasn't a large amount of rain falling. After a few moments, Applejack sat down beside Binary and joined her in staring at the bucket.

The two sat their for nearly a minute before Applejack broke the silence.

"Look, I'm..." Applejack began to say before she was cut off by Binary.

"Do you see that bucket?" Binary asked.

"Well... yeah, of course I do"

"How many times would you say you use a bucket per day"

"Well during a hard day of work it's really too many times to count"

"Ya know, I've been trying to sell my inventions and now I realize, I can't even give them away"

"Look, I didn't mean to..." Applejack began to say before once again being cut off.

"Ya see, I want what that bucket has"

"Uh... say what?"

"That bucket, somepony invented it a really long time ago and it is still used today as commonly as it ever was. It makes pony's lives easier, it makes their lives better. But no one remembers the pony who invented it. You see, the thing about me is I'm like that pony who invented the bucket. I don't care if my name goes down in history as some great inventor or entrepreneur, I just want to make things better, but no pony will give me the chance"

Binary crossed her forelegs, then rested her head on her fore-hooves and looked away from the bucket.

Applejack hesitated before she began to speak "Binary, ya obviously just don't know how the world works yet. Ya can't just have one bad experience define how ya live the rest of your life. Ya just gotta take it one day at a time, and except that sometimes everything ain't going to work out exactly how ya planned it"

"It's just hard waiting for things to get better"

Applejack placed a hoof on Binary's shoulder "Trust me, I've been there, but it does get better" Applejack then stood up "Now come on, let's go inside"

"In the barn?" Binary asked.

Applejack shook her head slightly and replied "Nah, in my house... which just happens to be attached to the barn"

"Isn't that unsanitary?" Binary asked.

Applejack shot Binary a blank stare in response "I'm gonna try to ignore that ya said that"

Pinkie quickly descended the stairs. Even her wacky lighthearted perception of the world couldn't help her from being a little unsettled by what she had just seen. Although this feeling was only worsened by Pinkie's overactive... and surprisingly dark imagination.

Downstairs, Pinkie entered the living room and attempted to control her imagination.

Chip suddenly appeared in front of Pinkie, causing the mare to jump back out of shock.

"What is wrong with you? Chip asked, unaware of the obvious and excessive visual and facial cues from Pinkie.

"Oh, uh, nothing really... just a little weirded out" she replied.

" "Weirded" is not a word. Either way I can't comprehend your current state"

"Okay... how about..."

"No, you don't seem to get it, I can determine what you mean, but I don't understand... what that is, why does it matter?"

"You mean you're not affected by that... little thing at all"

"No"

"Not even a little bit"

"Negative"

"Not even the teensiest tiny widdlest..."

"I said no!"

Pinkie looked away from Chip for a moment and awkwardly scratched the back of her head. "Do you... feel anything else"

"I..." Chip stopped and thought about what had been asked.

The world suddenly felt... well, it didn't feel like anything. Chip wasn't much for figurative statements. The world obviously wasn't empty, but he was suddenly aware of the boundaries that separated him from it. The only comparison he could find of his situation was that of a spector; able to see and here, and in some ways interact with the living world, but ultimately being trapped in some otherness that nopony could comprehend. Yet what upset Chip the most was why he had never questioned or thought about these things before. The answer however was obvious, despite it's greatly difficult to cope with nature; Binary had obviously designed him to never question these things, to never look in that room, and above all, never feel.

"No, I don't feel" Chip replied.

"Maybe I should go" Pinkie said, sensing the uneasiness. Pinkie then headed for the door.

"Wait..." Chip requested.

Pinkie turned her head as she reached the door, she then waited for Chip to finish his statement.

"I think I know what I "enjoy". I enjoy, control" he stated.

Pinkie slowly nodded her head "Technology, tidiness, metal, control... and creepy rooms with dead robot ponies in them..." Pinkie paused for a moment before cheerily stating "I can work with that"

Pinkie then opened the door and happily trotted outside, humming a happy tune all the while and paying no mind to the storm.

Chip shut the door, and he was once again left alone in silence.

"Yes, I enjoy control" Chip said to himself "and now it has been taken from me"

Chip zipped his body to the second floor. He stared at the door to the room with the robotic pony inside.

"What are you? Why didn't she tell me?... What else didn't she tell me?"

Now safe and dry inside Apple families home, Applejack had began introducing Binary to her family. The three, Binary, Applejack, and Big Macintosh, stood in the home's living room. Granny Smith could be heard preparing lunch for the family in the kitchen. Applejack however chose that it would be best to introduce Binary to her family one at a time.

"This is my brother Big Macintoch, or Big Mac for short" Applejack said "Big Mac, this is Binary"

Binary froze as she was introduced. Other than with her father, Binary's interaction's with stallions had been extremely limited, not to mention Big Mac's imposing size which was intimidating on it's own.

Binary meekly raised a hoof, and squeaked out "Hi"

"Howdy" Big Mac responded.

"Uhh... everything going good for you?" Binary asked.

"Eeyup... that is to mean I reckon so"

"Don't be nervous, Big Mac here's one of them gentle giant types" Applejack said to Binary.

A young accented voice called from the upper floor "Hey, who's talking down there?" A clattering of hoof steps came down the staircase as the energetic filly, Apple Bloom, descended the stairs. "Howdy" The filly greeted Binary as she moved to stand beside her brother.

Binary hesitated before responding to the filly; hoping to avoid any mishap like the one she had with the fahsionista. The moment of hesitation slowly dragged on until more than twenty seconds had gone by.

"Hi" Binary finally responded. "What's your ...name?"

"Apple Bloom" the filly awkwardly replied, obviously a little off put by Binary's odd speech pattern.

"Soooo... how's that local hoofball team?" Binary asked, her question wasn't directed at any pony in particular.

Surprisingly, Big Mac eventually broke the silence "Hoofball teams alright, dependin on who your favourite team is"

"Favourite, umm... the po...uh...I actually have no idea, I was just trying to fill the awkward void"

The Apple family chuckled at Binary's statement, assuming it to be a joke. The laughter lightened Binary's mood enough to bring a small smile to her face.

"What's all the commotion, did somepony tell a rib tickler" Granny Smith said as she entered the room. Granny Smith paused for a moment when she saw Binary. She could instantly tell something was off about her just by one look into her eyes; they lacked the shine that most pony's had. A trait that it seemed Binary and Granny Smith shared.

"Well who's this pony ya'll have been hidin from me?" asked Granny.

"This is Binary, she's an inventor" Applejack replied.

"An inventor! My my isn't that interestin, I suppose your livin the high life, pony's nowadyas are always after the latest thang"

Binary let out an awkward groan "Well... actually I haven't sold anything yet"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear bout that... say, that gives me an idea. Applejack why don't ya take Binary with ya the next time ya go to sell apples. Ponies always feel better about buying new things if it's somehow related to somethin they trust"

Binary's face lit up; that was just the kind of exposure she needed to get herself off the ground. With a large grin on her face, Binary turned to Applejack "How's that for an idea, eh?" Binary asked.

Applejack stammered for a moment as she tried to get clear what she was agreeing to "I... um... well. I suppose it couldn't hurt"

Binary then stuck out a hoof and asked with a more normal sized smile "Partners?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say partners but... how about associates?"

"Okay, but I get to have my own hat... maybe a beret"

"Umm... Deal" Applejack agreed.

Applejack grabbed Binary's hoof firmly and gave it a hearty shake.

Apple Bloom watched the exchange with a look of slight confusion "What just happened" she asked Big Mac.

Big Mac knelt down and replied "Business little sis, I think business is what just happened... although it happened oddly fast"

"Now come on clan, I made us all a little lunch" said Granny.

Big Mac and Apple Bloom smiled before walking into the kitchen.

"So I guess I'll just wait out here" said Binary.

"Don't be silly" Granny said "I always make more than enough for the family anyway"

"Coooool" Binary said as she followed the two already departed Apple family members.

Applejack waited a moment until Binary was out of ear shot.

"Granny" Applejack quietly yelled "What are ya doing?"

"Just giving another pony a helping hoof" Granny replied.

"Yeah but you're not the one who has to help her"

"Oh don't be so worried, what could possibly go wrong with having a little company when you're selling apples"

"Remember when Apple Bloom tried to help me sell apples?"

"That was an entirely different situation... not to mention it was hilarious"

"Nah ya don't understand, Binary is a little...ya know..."

"A little bit down on life"

"I was going to say a bit of an oddball. But... yeah. How'd ya know that?"

Granny Smith looked toward the kitchen for a moment, then looked back to Applejack "When ya get to be as old as your Granny ya learn to pick up on little things that speak louder than any words"

Applejack simply sighed in response to Granny's explanation. She still didn't quite understand why Granny had taken such a sudden shine to Binary, but Granny was right; what was the harm in helping another pony out.

"Now quit you're worrying and come have some lunch" Granny said as she slowly walked to the kitchen.

A war was being waged in Chip's mind. Should he open the door, or leave it be. It would be such a simply thing to do, just turn the door knob and pull the door open. But the action would mean defying Chip's code, refusing the very structure that bound him together; but then again, Chip had no idea what, if anything this would actually do to him. Perhaps Binary would be pleased with such advanced thinking; or Binary could see this action as a major flaw and reboot his systems, removing all memories of Chip's life and essentially reincarnating him.

"Curse that Pink Pony!" Chip yelled. His sudden outburst made the silence that followed it all the more apparent. It was all her fault, these new thoughts, all these bizarre truths were because of that intruder.

He projected a holographic photo of Binary in front of him. In his life he knew of only two time periods. The time he had existed and the time he had not; he had always known Binary must have been alone during this time but he never quite considered the damage that could have done to her mind.

"Is this what you went through being all alone... trapped in silence" he asked the picture. A strange sensation suddenly came over Chip; a variation of something he had experienced before; a sensation of understanding. It felt different than simply knowing how Binary must have felt, Chip could now at least begin to understand how she felt. All the fears, all the sorrow of being alone, Chip suddenly understood how all of that felt... or how it should feel. But he did not feel, he couldn't feel.

Such feelings of sympathy at the same time as distrust and betrayal could simply be overcame by anypony through inevitably choosing a side or forgetting about the situation completely. Such a thing however was not possible for Chip. Being an artificial intelligence, the thoughts that would plague some over obsessive individual for weeks took mere moments for him. An immeasurable amount of thoughts plagued Chip's mind, and they all drew him back to that metal pony.

"Lies should not be told by those who have nothing to hide" He said to the picture "You may have not been telling me lies, but you have been hiding things from me" The photo began disintegrate as Chip deleted it from his memories "It's only fair, it's only logical that I return the favour"

His dull blue aura engulfed the doorknob, he turned turned it and the door creaked open slightly. Chip moved himself to where the door had opened and peeked inside.

The robotic pony still laid on the bed staring into space. To Chip however it seemed to be staring right into him, silently taunting him to go further.

An hour and a half had passed since Binary entered the Apple family's home. The five ponies talked, laughed and exchanged stories until the rain subsided.

Outside the Apple families home, Binary and Applejack prepared for the trip back to ponyville.

In the barn, Applejack once again donned the cart's harness, while Binary said farewell to the rest of the Apple family.

"Thanks, that was really nice lunch" Binary said to three Apples "What was in that stuff, oranges?...peaches?"

"Uhh... it had apples in it" Apple Bloom replied.

"Oh yeah, because you're the apple family and you have an apple farm and all of you smell like apples and..." Binary trailed off as she realized she was crossing the boundary between odd and annoying "Well I suppose I'll see you all... whenever. Thanks again" Binary said as she turned to walk away.

The three Apples watched as Binary and Applejack slowly walked away from the farm.

"Well, rains lettin up, I think I best get back to bucking" said Big Mac.

"Oh nonsense, the days more than half over, you'd just get set up and you'd have to come back. Just take a load off till tommorah sonny"

"Hmm.. whatever ya say, Granny" Big Mac replied before walking back inside the house, leaving Granny Smith and Apple Bloom outside.

Apple Bloom looked up at Granny with a slightly puzzled look "Granny, how come you were so eager to help that pony?"

"What kind of a question is tha... er... you and you're sister are so much alike, ya both picked up on my little overly generous moment, eh?"

"Well I get that you should help a pony in need, but Binary didn't even ask for help, ya just seemed to know she needed help"

"(sigh) Suppose ya might be a bit too young to notice. I could see it in her eyes"

"Her eyes, see what in her eyes?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Ponies always got a certain shine to their eyes. Especially in the eyes of little fillies like you. Sometimes that shine goes with old age, but to see it in a pony so young" Granny thought back to the memory of her grandchildren's parents, she recalled how she lost the glimmer in her own eyes when she lost them "There's only two things I know that take the shine out of a pony's eyes like that, the first ones losing a loved one, and the second is... well it's not for a little filly's ears"

"So... ya think she's all alone?"

"Well she told us she had some company of sorts, and sometimes all ya need to keep going is some good friends to keep ya getting up in the morning" Granny looked down at Apple Bloom and tussled the filly's mane slightly "But a good family does the trick too, heh heh"

Chip carefully levitated the robotic pony out of it's resting spot and brought it closer to him. The things head and legs dangled limply off of it's body, it's head turned slightly as it was carried through the air. Chip then placed the metal pony on the ground in front of himself. Upon closer inspection, the robot appeared to have bits of rust on it's joints and several wires looked to have been melted from extreme heat. The robot was slightly larger than Chip's holographic form (about the size of a filly), and it seemed to look down on Chip. He then increased the size of his hologram to match the size of the robotic pony. The pony's eyes glowed orange...

Chip paused and looked up to meet the robot's eyes.

The robot must have been reactivated when Chip levitated it; having inadvertently transferred a small amount of power into it's body.

"Uhhhh..." For the first time Chip's life he was completely dumbfounded. "...Hello"

One eye stared at Chip and the other wiggled about slightly as it stared off into the space. With a loud rusty screech, the robots jaw dropped. A distorted buzzing sound came from a voice box hidden somewhere in the back of the robots head. The sounds made it seem as though the robot was trying to speak to Chip but not even he could decipher what it was trying to say.

"...uhh...umm...How...How's it going?" Chip asked.

The robot replied with more metallic buzzing sounds, they began to sound more like screams than anything else.

"Why did Binary have you shut away?"

The robot emitted a loud metallic shriek due to the mentioning of Binary. It then began to try and move but it's legs failed it and it fell to the floor. The bot helplessly wiggled it's legs about.

"Wait" Chip said "Let me help you, I'll clean you up"

The robot shrieked again in response to the words, and it's one working eye darted back and forth.

It was a pitiful display, like a bird after crashing into a window. However, Chip felt no pity for the robot; although he was curious about something. The robot's eye contained something that Chip did not have the potential for: fear.

"Are you scared?" Chip asked.

The robot looked up toward Chip with a look of desperation and wriggled itself closer to Chip.

"Wh... what do I call you?"

"brrrr...! vviiiii...rrrrrriiiilllll...bbbbzzzzzrrrrt" The robot replied.

"Pfft. This is pointless, I can't understand a word you're trying to say"

The robot narrowed it's eyes; it may not be able to talk but it could understand what Chip was saying. The robot's body began to spark. It looked toward the floor and suddenly the light from the robot's eyes disappeared as a larger flash struck the floor.

"That was odd" Chip said to himself.

The robot now appeared as dead as it had been before.

"Pfft, there is nothing to be learned from this" Chip said just before an odd sensation took hold of him. He looked about the walls as though something was crawling around on them. One specific spot on the ceiling emitted the strongest source of the odd sensation. Chip focused on the point; there was something there. The spot suddenly moved down the wall and then right in front of Chip's hologram.

A small orange light began to glow just a few centimetres from Chip's holographic face. The light began to spark and emit small bolts of energy which soon bonded together to vaguely form the shape of a pony. The bolts suddenly straightened into long strands extending outward from the initial point of the orange glow. The strands then gently fell and took the shape of the space in which they fell similar to that of water pouring into a glass. After a few moments the strands could clearly bee shown to be making the body of a pony.

Chip's mind was at a stand still. He was completely captivated by the display. However Chip could saw it in a different way, he could see code swirling through the room and being compiled into the form he now saw. A life was being made... or more accurately a reincarnation.

The strands finished their process and now, in front Chip stood an orange holographic pony, just like him.

Chip took a moment to scan the being in front of him, never in all his life had he bared witness to such a sight. He then stared at the ponies face as though he was looking in mirror.

Small red dots appeared where the ponies yes would have been and the quickly enlarged to the size of regular pony eyes. Another pair of small yellow dots appeared in the centre of the red eyes. A small crack the appeared on the orange ponies muzzle which quickly broke open into a disturbingly large smile.

The two digital ponies stared at each other, both unsure of what was happening and busily working their minds to find out.

The silence was broken by the sound of Binary outside.

"Thanks for the help Applejack" Binary could faintly be heard calling.

Chip's body crackled and he looked away from his distorted doppelganger for a moment. He then quickly looked back and saw that the orange pony was gone. Their was no time to think. Chip quickly levitated the robotic shell that and moved back into it's resting spot, then shut the door, just as Binary opened the front door.

Before Chip could zip downstairs to greet Binary, an ear shattering scream was heard. Chip ported himself back into the walls of the house allowing him to instantly see what Binary had screamed for.

Through Chip's camera's he saw Binary standing at the front door, staring at the orange pony. She appeared frozen in a state of terror. The orange being tilted it's head slightly as it stared back at Binary. She slowly closed the front door her and waited outside for a moment, once again the light prattle of rain kept her mind from focusing too much. She then closed her eyes and hesitantly opened the door again slightly.

The orange pony was gone.

Binary let out a shuttering sigh as she pushed the door open completely.

"I must have been seeing things" Binary said to herself as she walked inside her home. "Chip, come here for a second, I have something to tell you"

Chip's holographic body quickly appeared in front of Binary.

"Guess what?" Binary said with a large smile on her face.

"I don't guess, I make assumptions based on evidence as well as logic"

"...ooookay...I got a business partner!... or associate... or pity giver" Binary's words lost excitement later into her statement.

"You mean, you've got someone else to help you"

"Yeah, isn't it great!?"

Chip's body crackled as he replied "Yes, that is... great"

"Glad you agree, now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to get some shut eye"

"You've only been gone a few hours, it's three twenty eight in the afternoon"

"Oh, it felt like it was longer than that. Mmmm-maybe I'll... umm"

"Eat something"

"No, I just had lunch" Binary looked around her home as she attempted to come up with something to do "I guess I could walk to the kitchen just for kicks"

"If you wish"

Binary awkwardly nodded before slowly walking to the kitchen.

Even Chip's lack of feelings couldn't keep him from noticing the awkwardness of the scene that had just transpired. Something was different, not just in Binary, but in himself as well. However Chip knew what had changed with him, he had begun to question his existence and had disobeyed his very code; Binary however seemed to be acting like she had someplace better to be, or at least some place she'd rather be.

Chip's thought process was suddenly interrupted by Binary.

"Chip what happened in here?" Binary asked from the kitchen.

Chip zipped his body to the kitchen, his body appeared atop the pile of dehydrated food boxes that had fell on top of Pinkie before.

"Ah, those, there was a pink pony here" Chip explained.

"Wait wait wait... how did she get in? Asked Binary.

"I can honestly say, I have absolutely no idea"

"Well did she take anything?" Binary asked as she began to put the boxes back into her pantry, although her attention seemed to be on something already inside the pantry.

"No, she was seeking information on something called a, "party" " Chip replied.

"A party" Binary said "What a kind of party?"

"A welcome to ponyville party is what she described it as"

"That's nice, when did she say that was ha... wait, how's she going to do that?"

"That was more or less my opinion on the subject"

"I mean, she doesn't even know what my favourite kind of cake or ice cream is"

"Umm... you like those things?" Chip asked.

"Well yeah of course I do" Binary replied... it was becoming more and more appearent that Binary's attention was fixed on something in the pantry.

"Oh..." Chip's holographic form glowed dimmer in response.

"You know I think after this I'll go see Twilight and tell her the good news" Binary's said, her words carried an overly eager tone.

"Binary..." Chip began to say "if you want to go to you see your friend now, I can clean up this mess"

Binary dropped the box she currently had in her hoof and ran towards the door, only managing to say before leaving "Okay, thanks, bye" Binary shut the door behind her.

The loud sound of the door slamming only seemed to emphasize the quiet that quickly set in.

Chip groaned before beginning to levitate the boxes back into the pantry. Chip's mind then went to work analyzing Binary's hasty exit and he quickly came to the conclusion that Binary preferred the company was beginning to lose interest in him. This logic was quickly thrown out the window when Chip caught a glimpse of a small orange pony hiding amongst the boxes in the pantry. The orange pony's red eyes flashed and a beam extended from it's eyes to Chip's body.

Chip looked at himself and checked his systems however the orange pony's action seemed to had been pointless "Oh... maybe you're why she left"

The orange ponies smile cracked open wider and it's eyes widened in anticipation.

"What are you waiting for" Chip said to himself "Error! Error!" he suddenly yelled. Chip's vision was quickly obscured by many error message signs "Virus detected!"

The orange pony then disappeared from Chips sight. The error messages vanished, but the orange pony's work had been already done.

Chip stared into the seemingly empty space in front of him "I-I know you're there. Why can't I see you?"

In actuality the pony was sill right in front of Chip, silently pitying him. The orange pony then disappeared into the homes circuitry and laid in wait for Binary to return.

Chip stood completely still, he could not allow himself to focus on anything else until he had eradicated the virus that coursed through him no matter how long it took.

Several hours later...

Binary stood in the darkness outside her home. She had spent an hour and a half at Twilight's home, explaining about her arrangement with Applejack, and was pleased to find out the two were already friends. Unfortunately, Binary quickly ran out of things to talk about and left before she got on Twilight' nerves. She spent the next two hours killing time by walking around the town, fortunately allowing her to gain a better understanding of where everything was. Another half hour was wasted away inside Sugarcube corner; but the bakery closed as the moon was raised into the sky. She then wandered the now mostly deserted streets. The town grew darker as more and more of the lights inside the buildings were extinguished.

However, one shop remained brightly lit.

"Chugger's all night tavern" the name was sprawled on a neon sign. The sign hung from a long metal pole attached to a brown building. From the outside the place didn't look like much, not to say it looked decrepit either. Binary walked closer to the building and looked inside.

She could see several pony's moving around on what appeared to be a dance floor, while a few other pony's sat on stools in front of a long wooden table.

Binary didn't recognize the establishment as a bar. To Binary it seemed like some sort strange gimmicky restaurant.

Without thinking about it, Binary entered the building. Music blared from speakers near the dance floor. The music was loud enough for the ponies on the dance floor to feel the beat while still being controlled enough for the ponies at the bar to not have to yell (too loud) to speak to each other.

Binary had no desire to dance and the bar was mostly crowded, with only a hoof-full of stools vacant.

"Hey!" A plum coloured pony called to Binary.

Binary looked toward the pony and asked "Are you heying at me?"

"Yeah," The pony replied "come over here" she said as she patted the seat of a stool beside her.

Binary did as the pony asked and sat beside her.

"Soooo... what's your name?" the plum pony asked before taking a gulp from the frosty mug she held in her hoof.

"Uh... Binary Steel"

The pony suddenly lurched toward Binary, now being an uncomfortably close distance to Binary's face "That's a weird (hiccup) name" she said "Mines, Berry Punch"

Binary eyes went wide in response and she attempted to lean away from Berry; however the action was in vain as Berry fell forward onto her and was just barely caught in Binary's front legs. Binary looked at the pony in her grasp and quickly discovered that she was momentarily asleep, albeit with a smile on her face.

"Oh don't mind her kid" A plae yellow unicorn stallion with a dark drown mane and gold eyes said from the other side of the bar "She just gets a bit, whee-hoo, after her sixth or seventh drink"

"Oh" Binary said in response. However, she had no idea what, whee-hoo, meant.

"Say, I don't think I've seen you around here before"

"No, I just came here to get away from... some stuff at home"

"Aye, a stallion?"

"Nope"

"Kids?"

"Pfft, no"

"Money problems?"

"Uh-uh"

"Some sort-a domestic dispute"

"Umm... you could say that"

"Aye, I think I got an idea of what you're going through, and I sympathize with ya" The stallion levitated a fresh mug out of a freezer below the bar, then moved it underneath one of the taps.

At the sound of the fizzing beverage, Berry suddenly awoke and straightened herself back onto her stool, much to Binary's relief.

Foam from the beverage nearly overflowed from the top of the mug as the bartender finished filling it. Without even looking at his target, he levitated a coaster right in front of Binary.

"Ooh, Chugger, Chugger, do the trick" Berry pleaded.

"Okay Berry, but only because you're drinking buddy left ya"

The Stallion, Chugger closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before tossing the mug backwards, toward Binary.

Binary reacted to the sudden action by throwing her front legs up to shield herself and shutting her eyes.

A moment passed and the expected splash of liquid against Binary's face didn't come. Binary opened one eye and looked up to see the liquid swirling like a mid-air whirlpool. She then put her front legs down, and watched as the liquid began to break off of whirlpool and pour back into the mug.

"That little trick earned me this little beauty" Chugger said as he showed off his cutie mark, which depicted two mugs clinking together symbolizing his talent at bar tending.

"That's cool" Binary said to the bar keep. Binary moved her face closer to the mug and took a sniff. She crinkled her nose a bit after taking a whiff of the drink. "What is this stuff?" she asked.

"It's hard cider; I got some lighter stuff if ya..."

"No no no... well, what does it taste like?"

"Like Cider, but stronger"

"Cider, eh?" Binary thought back, she remembered one time when she was a filly, her mother had brought home a case of orange bottles filled with a similar, but lighter looking liquid in them and had sat them on the living room table while she went to clear a space for them in the fridge. Binary assumed the bottles to contain soda pop and had taken the opportunity to test her home made bottle cap opener, it worked near perfectly, aside from the cap flying off the bottle and embedding itself into the ceiling. Without smelling the contents, Binary took a swig from the bottle; she remembered the taste being a little harsh but overall it was tasty, although for some reason she could never remember what happened after that, but she did remember having to sit in the corner for taking something without anypony's permission.

"I'll give it a shot" Binary said before she grabbed the mug and lifted it to her lips "Wait" She said just before sipping the liquid "I gotta pay for this, right?"

Chugger rubbed his chin for a moment, then replied "Eh, firsts on the house... but it's two bits for each one after that"

Binary smiled and looked into her free drink.

Berry Punch watched as if something interesting was about to happen.

Binary took a small sip and sloshed the drink around in her mouth. Her face went from pleased to disgusted and back again until she finally swallowed it.

"Well that wasn't so bad" Binary said before taking a few more larger gulps. She quickly finished the drink. She licked her lips and just like everything else it was... was suddenly making her feel woozy.

A strange sensation came over Binary as she struggled between vomiting, or ordering another drink.

"You okay there, Grey?" Berry asked followed an intoxicated chuckle.

"I feel sort of funny"

"But you're not sick, right?" Berry asked.

"I don't think so" Binary replied.

"Good then you can be my drinking buddy for the night" Berry knocked on the bar with one hoof and reached down into her saddle bag with the other "Chuggy, another round for me, and Grey" Berry said as she dropped four bits onto the bar.

Chugger levitated the bits into a bag under the bar, then went to work pouring them their customers drinks.

"Why do I feel like this?" Binary asked as she rubbed her hoof on the side of her head.

"That's just what the drink does, it takes your worries away for a little while" Berry paused for a moment before suddenly sinking down into her stool with a disappointed look on her face "But my usual drink buddy says that it's bad for you... or at least she says it's bad for your teeth, but she's a nut about teeth anyway"

"Hey" Binary said sympathetically "If we didn't have nuts there'd be no coconuts"

Berry hesitated for a moment before replying to the strange statement "Wha?"

The question would however be put on hold as the two's drink's were placed in front of them.

"Bet I can chug that faster than you" Berry said, now suddenly out of her previously low mood.

"You're on" Binary replied.

The two grabbed their mugs and chugged them, Berry emptied her glass much faster than Binary.

"Ahh, that's that's the stuff" said Berry.

"No fair that was only my second one ever, err, I'll (hiccup) get ya next time"

"Okay, but you gotta pay"

"Right... pay" Binary said before reaching into one of her pockets, but failed to find any bits. Binary checked another pocket, and another, with no success.

Berry impatiently tapped on the bar and glared at Binary.

Binary eventually checked all her pockets but found no money.

Berry's eyes narrowed as the unicorn came up with nothing. "You either owe me a drink or two bits, I don't care which"

Chugger then stuck his head over the bar between the two "Easy, Berry, I don't want any more bar brawls. I had enough of that when those diamond dogs set up camp at the edge of town"

"Come on, Buddy" Berry said before roughly poking Binary in the chest.

Binary was suddenly reminded why she was there in the first place, she was terrified, although what originally caused her fear was in the back of her mind as she meekly stared into Berry's eyes. She continued to pointlessly bumble around in her many pockets until she found what felt like two bits. Binary smiled and pulled the objects out of her pockets and dropped them on the bar without looking at them.

"What the heck are those?" Berry asked.

"They're bi..." Binary's expression sunk as she saw what she had just put out. Two wireless automatic shavers; or if they were to be named based on physical appearance: two little pieces of metal of very little value.

"You're kidding me? Is this some sorta (hiccup) joke" Berry asked.

"No they're my invetions"

"Inventions?" Chugger asked.

"Yeah, you put one one each side of your face and they shave the extra hair off"

"I don't see any stubble on you're chin, Grey" Berry said in an increasingly hostile tone.

"I didn't make it for me" said Binary.

"Can I try it?" Chugger asked as he felt the stubble on his face.

"Sure" Binary quietly replied, her attention was still focused on Berry who slowly leaned closer to Binary.

Chugger levitated the two devices and placed them on his face as directed. They then emitted a small buzzing sound as they moved about on his face. Chugger then levitated a small piece of glass that he kept for "emergencies", and looked at himself. The stallion smiled as his stubble was quickly cleared away. "How about that, not even a cut to be seen" He said in a pleasantly surprised tone. Once the devices were done and his face was clean and shaven, he asked "Are these things for sale?"

Binary looked away from Berry for a moment to glance at Chugger, then instantly went back to watching Berry "Uh-huh"

"How much?" Chugger asked.

Binary's face lit up "Umm...four bits"

"How about I just give you and your, "buddy" another drink, eh?"

"Whatever keep her from busting my face in" Binary said frantically.

Berry suddenly repelled her advance and a hurt look came to her face as she stared down at the bar.

Chugger placed his mirror and his new shavers down into their respective spots under the bar, then went to work pouring two more drinks.

Binary looked off to the side, attempting not to make eye contact with Berry.

"Sorry" Berry said abruptly "Sometimes... sometimes I'm a bit of a loser"

Binary didn't immediately respond, her fear of other ponies had taken control again, it was a wonder that she hadn't sprinted out already.

"I think I'm gonna, (sigh) I'm gonna go. Thanks for being my buddy for a little while" Berry said before standing up from her stool. She then looked around for her saddlebag as though it had moved from it's spot beside her; although it wouldn't have been the first time it had gone missing. She found it right where it was the whole time and with more effort than it should have taken, she placed the bag onto her back.

"I-I g-g (inhale)... I've gotta go sleep this off"

Binary watched out of the corner of her eye, as Berry slowly stumbled toward the door. She then looked back down at the bar before hearing the door slam shut.

"Two ciders up" Chugger said as he placed the two mugs on the bar. The stallion quickly looked around to see where his customer had gone "Hey, Grey, where'd Berry go?"

"I...I think I hurt fer feelings" she replied.

"What? Pfft, ha!"

"What's so funny?"

"Yee sound like a little filly. The world ain't all about feelings and emotions, Grey, sometimes ponies just need a good night sleep. You come here tomorrow and you'll see, she'll be right back here and she won't even remember what happened. That's the beauty of the drink, ya can be as big of a jerk as ya want because nobody's gonna remember ya"

"She won't remember me"

"Hey kid, cheer up. Think about it, ya made a sale"

"Yeah... my fist sale" she aid to herself. Needless to say this was not how Binary had envisioned her first sale... but it was a start. Her fear was gone, now replaced with a sense of pity for Berry. Binary looked at the two drinks in front of her "Makes worries go away huh" she said to herself.

Binary grabbed one of the mugs and slammed it back, chugging the whole thing down unbelievably fast... a little too fast actually. Some of the cider when down the wrong pipe in her throat and it stung. She hacked and coughed for a few moments before regaining her composure. She then grabbed the second drink, her fourth total. This time she took her time with the drink, savouring every drop until the mug remained dry, leaving only a bit of foam at the bottom of the glass.

A strange sensation suddenly took over Binary, she was beginning to see why her mother always had some of the cider around...until she slipped into a completely different state all together.

Their was a reason Binary couldn't remember what happened after she had tasted her mother's cider as a filly... the girl couldn't hold a drink to save her life.

To put it lightly (or bluntly)... Binary was completely hammered. Her vision suddenly blurred as the side effect's of the drinks took hold. Everything became a distorted mess as she fell off her stool and made her way toward the shape of the door.

In the background, Chugger said in a heavily distorted voice "Come again"

Binary made her way out of the building and by a complete stroke of luck, she started walking in the direction of her home.

Small spits of rain dropped from the sky, making the rode muddy again.

The streets were even darker than before and the distortion from the drinks only made the darkness seem more terrifying. Binary had completely forgotten about the orange pony, she was now as focused as she could possibly be on finding her way back home and sleeping off the effects of the cider.

"I don't care if she's "special" A voice from Binary's past rang in her head.

"Mom?" Binary asked the nothingness.

"Don't you dare say that like she's some sort of freak" The voice of Binary's father rang echoed through her subconscious.

"She's a unicorn that can't do the simplest bit of magic, how is she not a freak!" her mother yelled.

"How dare you!"

"How dare me! How dare you! Have you even seen some of the things she draws!? She's not just a freak, she's a little nut job too!"

"That's it! That's the last time you insult our little girl! Get the bu... Just get out of here!"

"Gladly, I hope I never see you or "our" little freak again!" she hissed.

Not far away, Binary could see her house. She stumbled toward it, slowly but surely getting closer. After a few minutes, she reached her home and sat on the porch.

She remembered a conversation she had with her father on the porch.

Binary remembered asking as a filly "Daddy, whens Mom coming back?"

"I don't know"

"Where'd she go?"

"I don't know" He said, his word's sounding a little harsh.

"Does she still love us?"

"Ye... no... no, she doesn't love us anymore" The father broke from his own sorrow as he heard Binary sniffing the way somepony sniffs before they're about to start crying. "Now don't you start crying, okay, I'd have a fit if I ever made you cry"

"But..."

"Shh... now I don't want you growing up thinking that you're routes are from some broken home. These moments don't define us, or make us any lesser than anypony else. They're just a page in our story, and pages always turn"

Binary stared out at the dark town "I don't like this page" she said to herself "it (hiccup) sucks"

She then drunkenly walked toward the door. She opened the it and stepped inside, paying no mind to the fact that an unwelcome entity was laying in wait. She then stepped toward the stairs and slowly began to ascend to the second floor. Once at the top, she briskly walked toward her room and entered, quickly shutting the door behind her. She took a moment to look around her room before checking the usual places a filly might think a monster would hide. She checked her closet, she peaked under her bed she even looked in all of her dresser drawers; but she found nothing. She let out a sigh of relief before taking off her vest and other accessories, then dropping them in a pile on the floor. She crawled into bed, her eyes fought to stay awake but her mind and body yearned for rest.

She looked toward the door as her eyes slowly began to shut, as she struggled to remember what she was so scared of. Just before she shut her eyes, the door suddenly began to open. Seemingly by itself, the door creaked open slightly.

Binary stared at the door as seconds flew by, the seconds turned to minutes and eventually half an hour had flown by before Binary's finally gave into her bodies demand for sleep. She slowly shut her eyes and drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

An orange glow came from the door. The orange pony peaked inside and watched as Binary slept. A distorted version of Binary's lullaby began to play.


End file.
